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THE CENTRE OF AN ANIMATED GROUP 



HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


H Stors tor (Btrls 



HELEN SHERMAN GRIFFITH 



THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY 


PHILADELPHIA MCMI 






V 


O 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 
Two CopiEfi Received 

JUL. 25 1901 

Copyright entry 

2-v5:/7«' 

CLASS ^ XXc. N*. 

j3'7S'f 

COPY B. 


Copyright 1901 by The Penn Publishing Company 


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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Catastrophe 5 

II A Sad Half Hour 14 

III In Mrs. Allen’s Room 24 

IV A Change op Fortune 34 

V The Doctor’s Plan 45 

VI An Invitation 54 

VH A Bunch of Letters 64 

VHI Closing the Old Home 74 

IX Katharine visits Alice Warren 84 

X A Tour of Inspection 97 

XI An Early Morning Interview 106 

XH Thin Ice 116 

XHI Chance Words 127 

XIV Concerning the Ohio Property 138 

XV A Surprise Party 149 

XVI The Lawyer in a New Light 160 

XVH A New Friend 172 

XVHI Mr. Griggs and the Doctor 183 

iii 


IV 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX Katharine’s Inspiration 193 

XX Seeking Advice 205 

XXI Mr. Brown Solves the Difficulty 217 

XXII Mrs. Allen Consents 229 

XXIII The Journey 240 

XXIV En Route for Amsden 251 

XXV A Collision 259 

XXVI Mr. Griggs is Frightened 266 

XXVII An Illegal Business Transaction 276 

XXVIII Farmer Gray Imparts News 287 

XXIX The Discovery 298 

XXX Two Telegrams 309 

XXXI Hope Deferred 318 

XXXII The Slip ’Twixt the Cup and the Lip 327 

XXXIII All’s Well that Ends Well 337 


1 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


CHAPTER I 
THE CATASTROPHE 

It was a dreary wet morning in February. A 
chill, ice-like rain was falling. The skies were 
leaden hued, to match the dingy pavements. 

In an office high up in the Grain-Exchange 
Building, two men were sitting. They were 
both good-looking men, after their types, and 
both in the prime of life. They sat facing one 
another and each wore an expression of repressed 
excitement. The taller of the two men, and of 
the more prepossessing appearance, sat forward 
in his chair, his head bent and his hands drop- 
ping dejectedly down between his knees. 

“ If you can’t let me have the money, Griggs,” 
he said, “I’m afraid it’s all up. I don’t know 
any one else well enough to negotiate a private 
loan, and my reputation on ’Change is too un- 
certain to go to the money lenders.” 


5 


6 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


His voice was naturally low-pitched and 
musical, but just at present there was a strain of 
anxiety in it which tightened the tone and threw 
it oif the key. 

Mr. Griggs moved impatiently. He was 
seated in a revolving desk chair. One arm was 
flung over the back and the long, tapering fingers 
trifled nervously with a paper-knife. 

“ I tell you it can’t be done, Allen,” he said 
vehemently. “ I was almost as hard hit as you 
on that last deal in wheat. You say you have 
no security to offer ? ” 

The other shook his head. 

“ My life insurance policy and the furniture 
in my house.” 

The lawyer’s expression underwent a sudden 
subtle change as a thought entered his mind. 

“ What about that land in Ohio ? ” he 
asked. 

He spoke quietly, and his companion, absorbed 
in his own anxious thoughts, failed to observe 
the nndercurrrent of excitement in his voice. 
He looked up listlessly. 

“Yes, there’s that. But it’s worthless.” 

Mr. Griggs shot a lightning glance at him, 
and then whirled himself around to his desk. 


THE CATASTROPHE 


7 


He sat silently for some time, figuring on a scrap 
of paper. Then he looked up. 

“ See here, Allen. I want to help you if I 
can. But business is business. I can’t be so 
mean as to take what you offer as security. But 
I want to help you out of this hole. I’ll lend 
you the money. I can do it at a pinch, and I 
don’t want any thanks. But for the sake of 
business, you can make over to me that piece of 
property as security.” 

“ Mr. Allen looked up quickly. 

“ But that land’s worth practically noth- 
ing,” he protested. “I took it as a bad 
debt.” 

The other waved his hand magnanimously. 

“ That need not be so nominated in the bond,” 
he replied lightly. “ In the eyes of the world 
it will be a simple business transaction and you 
will be on your feet again. I dare say you’ll 
repay me within a month or two,” he added 
carelessly. “Remember your reputation for 
luck, my man.” 

Mr. Allen still hesitated. 

“To tell the truth,” he admitted at length, 
“ I had planned to put that land to a different 
use.” 


8 


HER FATHER^S LEGACY 


The lawyer was surprised at this, but made 
no comment. He enlarged upon the advantages 
of his proposition. But Mr. Allen could not 
bring himself to accept so great a favor. They 
discussed the subject at some length, and when 
at last he rose to go, no agreement had yet been 
reached. 

“ Think it over, Allen,” the lawyer advised. 
“ It seems to be the only way out of your 
difficulty.” 

“ Yes, it seems to be,” the other admitted 
gloomily. “ Still, I haven’t lost heart,” he added, 
and for a moment a smile lit up his face. 

It was a rare smile, remarkable for its radiance 
and the strength and sweetness it lent to the 
nervous, handsome face. 

Mr. Griggs opened the door for his client and 
accompanied him down the hall, still urging the 
good points of his offer. Neither of them per- 
ceived that, by some piece of criminal careless- 
ness, the elevator boy, in closing the door behind 
a passenger, had failed to catch the lock. The 
door, rebounding, stood widely ajar, while the 
car sped upwaVd on its way. 

Mr. Allen, still talking, reached out his hand 
to ring the bell, felt the opening, and supposed 


THE CATASTROPHE 


9 


that the boy seeing him, had stopped, and was 
waiting wdth the elevator. 

“ You are very good, Griggs,” he said, shaking 
hands with the lawyer. ‘‘ I’ll let you know my 
decision to-morrow.” 

But that decision was never made. 

Very well, then. Come to my office at about 
this time to-morrow,” replied the lawyer, and 
turning, retraced his steps to the room the 
two men had just quitted. Mr. Allen watched 
his retreating form for a moment and then, with 
a preoccupied mind, stepped forward to an 
awful fate. 

Seating himself at the desk in his private 
room, Mr. Griggs, all unconscious of the tragedy 
that had been enacted behind his back, took out 
a package of papers and began looking over 
them, as if in search of a certain document. 
Finding what he wanted, he replaced the bundle 
of papers and taking up his pen, commenced to 
write rapidly. He was interrupted by a hasty 
knock at the door. 

“Mr. Griggs, Mr. Griggs, sir,” called the 
office-boy, in tones that betokened considerable 
agitation, “you’re wanted, sir.” 

A dull red flush rose in the lawyer’s face and 


lo HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

he frowned angrily. Crossing the room he 
opened the door with a jerk. 

How often must I tell you that I am not 
to be disturbed in this room ! ” he exclaimed 
curtly. 

A man stepped forward, touching his cap re- 
spectfully. He was dressed in the uniform of 
the employees of the building. 

“ There’s been an accident, sir,” he said quietly, 
but with an undertone of horror in his voice 
that sent a chill of apprehension to the lawyer’s 
heart. “ It’s the gentleman who was with you 
just now. The doctor wants to see you, sir.” 

The dull, purplish flush faded suddenly 
from Mr. Griggs’ face, which grew a ghastly 
white. 

“The doctor wishes to see me !” he gasped as 
he followed the man hastily out the room. “ Is 
Mr. Allen badly hurt ? ” 

“ Yes, sir. I fear he’s dead, sir,” replied the 
man bluntly. 


At this same hour the principal of a fashion- 
able girl’s school, up on the north side, was dis- 
missing her pupils for the day. She had just 


THE CATASTROPHE 


II 


made the announcement that the examinations 
for the term, which had been fearfully antici- 
pated for some time past, would commence on 
the following morning. 

A swarm of chattering, excited girls poured 
into the cloak-room, and hats and jackets were 
pinned and donned amid an incessant buzz of 
treble, feminine voices. The mass drifted apart 
and divided into clusters and groups, according 
to age, class or personal inclination. 

The center of one animated bunch was a tall, 
slender, pretty girl with golden curls, laughing 
blue eyes and a serious mouth that won her the 
trust of all her teachers and the love and faith 
of her schoolmates. Katharine Allen was fond 
of study, quick to learn and interested in her 
lessons. But she was never too absorbed in 
them to find time for mischief. Moreover, if 
once she undertook anything, whether in work 
or play, she carried it through in spite of every 
obstacle. Thus, her friends were wont to say, 
when any plan threatened to fall through, “ Get 
Katharine to attend to it. She’ll bring it out 
all right.” 

“ Latin is my bug-bear,” Alice Warren was 
saying, apropos of the approaching examina- 


2 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


tions. “ Those awful rules for the subjunctive 
just won’t stick in my head. And I am so tired 
of Caesar’s legions breaking camp.” 

‘‘ Why, that’s just the trouble with the rules 
in my case. They do stick in and won’t come 
out,” rejoined Katharine merrily. “ Sometimes 
I think the cell in my brain that takes charge 
of Latin-grammar is made of sticky fly-paper.” 

The girls all laughed at this sally. 

‘Won always do express things so cleverly, 
Kathie,” sighed Alice. “ However do you think 
of all the similes and things ? ” 

“ It’s hard enough for me to recognize figures 
of speech in the rhetoric, without creating 
them,” added another. 

Into this group suddenly entered Miss Greaves, 
the principal. The sight of her white, pained 
face and tear-dimmed eyes checked the girls’ 
voices at once. They drew back in a hushed, 
anxious expectancy. Bad news had come and 
each heart tightened with a dread that it should 
be for her. 

Katharine alone seemed not to have observed 
the teacher’s entrance. She was standing with 
her back to the others, pulling on her rubbers. 

^^The figures of speech don’t all live in the 


THE CATASTROPHE 


13 


rhetoric,” she was beginning gaily, when she 
felt a touch on her shoulder. 

She looked up to see the pitying, frightened 
face of her teacher bending over her, and the 
other girls clustered about in a sympathetic, 
anticipatory silence. 

What is it ? ” she cried sharply, with a quick 
prescience of bad news. “ My mother ? ” 

“ No, dear, it’s not your mother,” replied Miss 
Greaves gently. “ Come with me.” 

Katharine followed her out from among the 
groups of speechless girls. 

“ You have been sent for to go home, 
Katharine,” said her teacher brokenly. “Your 
father is — is very ill.” 

“ It is worse than that 1 ” cried the girl, read- 
ing her hesitation aright. “ What has hap- 
pened?” 

Then, as gently as possible, and in the least 
shocking words at her command. Miss Greaves 
told what had occurred, and after the first out- 
burst of grief was over, led the girl to the wait- 
ing carriage. 


CHAPTER II 


A SAD HALF HOUR 

III news travels fast, and the Allen home- 
stead was soon the object of eyes and tongues 
of conjecturing pity. 

The house was one of a row of typical city 
residences brown stone, three-storied, with a 
high basement and a bay window extending up 
the front. Upon the pavement had gathered a 
small crowd, prompted by that morbid curiosity 
which characterizes a certain class of people. 

Into the midst of this crowd dashed a car- 
riage. The coachman jumped to the ground, 
opened the door and unceremoniously cleared a 
way across the pavement. Katharine sprang 
out, ran past the staring throng and up the 
eight or ten steps that led to the front door. 
This was opened without waiting for her ring, 
and inside the hall she met Dr. Warren, the 
family physician. 

The doctor was short, fat, gray-haired and 
14 


A SAD HALF HOUR 


15 

kind-faced. He was fond of Katharine and his 
heart ached for her. 

“ Oh, doctor,” she cried, “ is it true, what they 
tell me!” 

“ My poor child,” he said, his voice choking, 
don’t take it so hard I ” 

Katharine sank down into a chair and buried 
her face in her hands. The hall was in confu- 
sion, the furniture pushed aside and the rugs 
rolled back. In the parlor the blinds were 
closed and the shades tightly drawn. Every- 
thing told of the change that had taken place. 

‘‘There, there,” repeated the doctor, at a 
loss for words, and patting the bent head sooth- 
ingly, “it is only what must come to us all.” 

“ But not like that 1 ” cried Katharine, shudder- 
ing. “ To be strong and well one minute ; to 
have everything, to be interested — and the next 1 
Oh, no, not like that ! Oh, my father, my 
father ! ” 

The doctor could find no answer ready, so he 
stood in patient, sympathetic silence, waiting 
for the paroxysm of her grief to pass. He had 
great faith in her strength of character — grit, 
he called it mentally. Presently he said quietly : 

“ Try to control yourself, Kate. You must 


i6 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

bear up for your mother’s sake. It will take all 
your pluck to go through with the duties that 
have fallen upon you.” 

He realized as he spoke how many and how 
infinitely sad would be the duties imposed upon 
these young, untried shoulders. His mind 
flashed ahead to the long, dreary years wherein 
this child must be the moral support of a 
nervous, exactiug invalid. For Mrs. Allen was a 
chronically ailing woman whose chief disease was 
a weak will combined with a selfish heart. His 
fatherly gaze rested kindly on the spirited young 
girl before him, changed so suddenly into a weak, 
trembling child by the overwhelming shock. 

At his reminder, Katharine checked her 
violent sobbing and raised her head. 

“ I must go to my mother ! I should have 
gone at once ! ” she exclaimed, remembering. 

“No, I’d rather you didn’t, just yet. Wait 
until you are more composed. She has a nurse 
with her ; Miss Coatlee, a trained nurse from 
the hospital. Your mother is still a little — ah, 
still a little upset. You are not needed and it 
might agitate her to see you just now. Will 
you wait until I come down again ? ” 

“ Certainly, if you think it best,” acquiesced 


A SAD HALF HOUR 


17 

Katharine, secretly relieved that she need not 
go to her mother for the present. 

She did not feel strong enough yet to exercise 
the self-repression that would be required in 
the invalid’s presence. The doctor understood 
this and wished to spare her the nervous strain 
until she had had a little time to herself in 
which to realize the extent of her loss and to 
master her grief. 

The doctor went up-stairs, promising to see 
her again before he quitted the house, and poor 
Katharine, left alone, turned drearily to the 
darkened parlor. The maid, who had stood by 
during the sad interview, felt her tender Irish 
heart wrung with pity at sight of the girl’s 
white, woful face. 

“ Do come into the dining-room, miss,” she 
said coaxingly. “ It’s less doleful you’ll find it. 
’Nd 23erhaps ye’d be after takin’ a glass of milk, 
or a cup o’ wake tay, just for the strengthenin’ 
it’ll give ye ? ” 

“ Oh, I couldn’t eat, Bridget ! ” exclaimed 
Katharine chokingly. 

But she turned away from the parlor, with 
its rich, stiffly arranged furniture, and followed 
Bridget into the dining-room. 


8 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


This room was at the back of the house and 
of a much more home-like appearance. The 
walls and hangings were of a bright rich yellow, 
First Empire in design and the mahogony fur- 
niture, carved and massive, was of the same 
elaborately simple pattern. There was a deep 
bay window at the end of the room, and though 
the blinds of this were discreetly closed, the 
shades were not drawn, as in the front of the 
house. 

The rain of the morning had crystallized and 
ceased. The sky had cleared and the pale, 
feeble rays of the winter sunshine crept in 
through the slats, doing their best to dispel the 
gloom. 

Katharine went over and sat down by a 
window, toward which she stared though she 
could see nothing beyond the varnished slats. 
Her thoughts, as had the doctor’s, wandered 
ahead to the future. Although, in the death of 
her father she had lost her most loved relative 
on earth, her courageous, buoyant spirit had 
already risen bravely to accept the loss and be 
prepared to meet the new state of affairs. 

Mrs. Allen, an invalid ever since Katharine’s 
earliest recollection, would be nothing of a help 


A SAD HALF HOUR 


19 


now. Indeed, it was tlie daughter who must, 
as the doctor had said, bear the brunt of the 
burden that had fallen upon them. Accus- 
tomed to look after her mother and to minister 
to her constant wants, Katharine did not feel 
the lack of maternal comfort at this time of 
mourning. 

It was melancholy to think of a young girl 
plunged so suddenly into such deep sorrow, 
with no one to turn to for sympathy except 
hired Servants; to have had the very news 
broken to her by an outsider. 

But she did not stop to waste any pity upon 
herself. Her tears still broke forth frequently, 
but she was beginning to feel the burden of 
inaction. She longed to be doing something, 
and chafed at the doctor’s delay in summoning 
her to her mother. 

She got up and began to walk restlessly about 
the room. Presently she crossed to the table 
and stood by her father’s chair. The shock of 
his death came over her afresh as she suddenly 
realized that he would never sit there again. 
She dropped into the chair, and leaning her 
arms on the table, buried her face in them and 
cried more bitterly than she had yet. 


20 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


She and her father had been very near and 
dear to each other. Deprived of the compan- 
ionship of his wife, Mr. Allen had turned to 
his daughter for sympathy and comradeship. 
It was in a great measure this dependence of 
both father and mother upon her that had 
developed Katharine’s brave, reliant character 
beyond her years. It was well for her now 
that her early training had brought with it such 
responsibilities. 

Her father had devoted his little leisure time 
to his invalid wife and his daughter. With 
the former he was gentle, tender and patient, 
but never communicative, and Katharine, who 
had studied her father long and closely, guessed 
that often he would have been glad to seek 
sympathy. 

Breakfast and dinner times had been the 
pleasantest hours of the day to Katharine, for 
then her father seemed to shake off the busi- 
ness cares that constantly worried him, and 
endeavored to make their tete-^-tetes gay and 
cheerful. He chatted merrily with his daugh- 
ter, exhibiting great interest in her school affairs, 
incpiiring eagerly into her progress with lessons, 
and responding in kind to her nonsense. 


A SAD HALF HOUR 


21 


It was of all this that Katharine was think 
ing, as she sat with her face buried in her arms, 
in the very chair her father had occupied so 
many times, smiling across at her. Never again 
would she hear his kind “ Good morning, daugh- 
ter,” or his evening greeting of, “Well, dear, 
has all gone well to-day ? ” 

She wondered, with a sinking heart, if she 
would ever be able to bear this great void that 
had come into her life. Then she remembered 
her mother and her duty, and sat up. 

“ I must be brave for mother’s sake,” she 
thought. “ Her heart will be quite broken and 
I am all she has left.” 

She began to consider what she could do to 
help her mother bear her sorrow. 

“ I think the best thing to do,” she decided, 
“ will be to travel. That will take her mind 
away from her trouble. I know that mother 
has always wanted to travel, but would never 
leave father. Now ” — a great lump rose in her 
throat — “now there will be nothing to keep 
us!” 

She took it for granted that they would be 
able to live on in the very solid comfort to 
which she had always been accustomed. Prac- 


22 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


tical-minded as Katharine was, she was not yet 
old enough to look at the future from a busi- 
ness point of view. 

Just then she heard the doctor’s step outside 
and hurried to the door to meet him. 

I am sorry to have been gone so long,” he 
began, “ but your mother ” 

“ Is there anything wrong ? ” cried Katharine 
in quick alarm. 

“ No, no. In fact, she is bearing the shock 
better than I had expected. But she has just 
passed through a painful interview. Mr. Griggs, 
who — who — your family lawyer, I believe ? ” he 
broke off, unwilling to bring past scenes to her 
recollection. 

“Yes, I believe so,” replied Katharine indif- 
ferently. “Bat I can’t see what he has been 
bothering mother about now,” she added, re- 
sentful of the lawyer’s lack of tact. 

“Y^our mother has asked for you,” went on 
the doctor, “ and I told her I would send you 
right up. I must hurry off to my other patients 
now. Are there any messages I can take for 
you ? ” 

“None that I can think of, thank you.” 

The doctor started to go and then turned back. 


A SAD HALF HOUR 


23 


“I took the liberty of telephoning to your 
clergyman, Mr. Phelps,” he said. He will call 
this afternoon. I hope you will see him, and 
persuade your mother to also.” 

“ Yes, doctor.” 

“ And Mr. Griggs has asked me to meet him 
here to-night for a little business talk. We 
shall not be in the way ? ” 

“ No, indeed,” replied Katharine quietly, but 
the quick eye of the doctor detected a change 
of expression. 

“ Her sentiments on one subject are different 
from her mother’s,” he surmised shrewdly as he 
climbed into his phaeton behind the restive 
horse. “ And I’d prefer her judgment in cases 
of character reading.” 

But he was a busy man and moreover came 
into too close contact with family matters in his 
profession to speculate for long upon any one’s 
private affairs. 

As for Katharine, she stood for a few mo- 
ments motionless in the hall, where the doctor 
had left her, and then turned and went sadly 
up-stairs. 


CHAPTEK III 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM 

A WEAK, fretful voice greeted Katharine’s 
ears as she softly opened the door of her 
mother’s room. 

“How soon will she be here, do you sup- 
pose ? ” the voice was asking, “ and will she be 
sure to bring samples with her ? ” 

“ She ought to be here at any moment now,” 
responded a low, quiet voice — a voice whose 
first sound inspired Katharine with a warm 
sense of comfort, even before she saw the 
speaker. 

“Well, I hope she won’t bring anything 
cheap. Cheap mourning is so tawdry,” her 
mother’s voice was beginning again, when she 
caught sight of Katharine. 

“ Mother ! ” sobbed the girl, and her self-con- 
trol suddenly leaving her, she dropped on her 
knees beside her mother’s couch. Mrs. Allen 
gave way to a burst of hysterical weeping. 

24 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM ^5 

‘‘ There, there, how could you ! ” she cried 
pettishly. ‘‘ Coming in like that when I was 
just beginning to recover. Isn’t it all horrible 
enough for me to bear without having a great, 
strong girl like you giving way and upsetting 
me again ! Do stop her crying. Miss Coatlee. 
Tell her how bad it is for me,” she appealed 
to the nurse, giving Katharine an impatient 
push. 

Katharine dried her eyes quickly and lifted 
her head, trying bravely to smile. 

“Forgive me, mother dear,” she said gently. 
“ I won’t give way again. It was because I am 
so sorry for you.” 

She leaned over as she knelt, and put her 
strong young arms around her mother. But 
Mrs. Allen drew back coldly. 

“ You need not waste your sorriness then ; if 
it’s only for me and none for your own loss. I 
call it ungrateful, to say the least, after all that 
your father was to you, not to mourn his death. 
And such a death ! ” 

She put her handkerchief to her eyes and her 
face puckered like a child’s that is denied its 
own way. Katharine rose, terribly hurt by her 
mother’s unjust words. She was about to make 


26 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


an angry retort but checked herself, and in a 
moment had recovered her self-control. 

‘‘I am sorry for myself too, mother,” she 
said. “ But you see, I am young and strong 
and better able to stand it. So you must let 
me help you to bear your part, too,” she added 
brightly. 

Then she turned and held out her hand. 

“ This is Miss Coatlee, isn’t it ? ” she asked. 
“ I am very glad that you are here with us.” 

Mrs. Allen grew calmer under the stimulus 
of non-attention, and Katharine sat down pres- 
ently on a low stool by her mother’s couch. 
But she moved restlessly, as though she wished 
to say or do something that was awkward to 
accomplish. She sat for some time in uneasy 
silence and then rose and crossed to where the 
nurse was arranging a stand of medicines at 
the further side of the room. 

“ Miss Coatlee,” she said in a low voice, “ do 
you suppose I might — might see him ? ” 

Miss Coatlee turned at once. 

“ The doctor didn’t take you ? ” 

“ I didn’t ask him. He was in a hurry. I 
can go by myself if you will tell — is he in his 
own room ? ” 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM 


27 


“Yes, but I must not let you go alone. Bridget 
can stay with your mother. Will you ring for 
her ? ” 

The nurse went over to the couch and bend- 
ing, spoke a few words to Mrs. Allen. The 
invalid flung herself back among the cushions 
in a fresh paroxysm of tears and turned her 
face to the wall. Katharine opened the door in 
response to Bridget’s low knock, admitted 
the servant and stepped outside with Miss 
Coatlee. 

The nurse led the way in tiptoed silence to 
the adjoining room. Katharine’s breath came 
short and in gasps as they crossed the darkened 
threshold. Miss Coatlee raised one shade a 
little way and then stood by the window with 
her back to the room. Katharine went over 
and knelt down by the bed upon which lay all 
that was left of the earthly part of her dear, 
loving father. However Gordon Allen stood 
among men, he had been a tender, devoted hus- 
band and parent. 

She knelt long by the bedside, weeping 
silently. She could form no words, but an 
earnest, yearning prayer went up from her 
bruised young heart for strength to endure this 


28 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


gi’eat sorrow patiently and to be granted the 
humility to say, “ Thy will be done.” 

She rose at length, composed and quiet. Miss 
Coatlee drew down the shade, and they passed 
out of the cool, silent chamber of death. 

When they returned to the invalid’s room, 
they found Mrs. Allen propped up on her cush- 
ions and almost cheerful. She held a thick 
bunch of small pieces of black cloth in her hand 
and was looking over them with keen interest. 
Seated near by was a small, thin woman in a 
neat, plain black suit, who was describing some- 
thing in swift words with a French accent, and 
illustrating her speech with 3*apid gestures. 

“Kate, here is the dressmaker,” called her 
mother. “ Come and see what I have chosen 
for you. This is Madame Monee.” 

Katharine bowed to the little Frenchwoman 
and then seated herself again on the hassock 
beside her mother’s couch. She had no heart 
fo] styles and samples. She agreed at once to 
every suggestion her mother made, rose and 
stood in obedient stillness while her measures 
were taken and, as soon as she could do so 
unnoticed, slipped away to her own room. 

It cut her to the heart to see the interest her 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM 


29 


mother took in worldly things at such a time. 
Still, it was a relief, she could not help admit- 
ting, to have her mother’s thoughts diverted for 
a time for her hj^-sterical bemoaning. 

“ And all the time, she feels it even worse 
than I do, down deep in her heart,” thought the 
daughter loyally. 

She had not been long in her room when 
Bridget knocked at the door and said that the 
clergyman was down-stairs. Katharine had 
forgotten the doctor’s words concerning Mr. 
Phelps’ expected call. Conscious for the first 
time of her tear-stained face and disheveled hair, 
she hastily set about freshening her toilet, dread- 
ing the coming interview nervously. 

The clergyman had looked forward to his 
task with a feeling of awkwardness. Although 
the Allen family had been members of his con- 
gregation for over a year, he knew very little 
about them. He had called two or three times, 
but Mrs. Allen had always been excused on a 
plea of illness. Mr. Phelps was a bachelor. If 
he had had a wife, she might have gained an 
entrance to the household. As it was, he was 
aware that Mr. Allen and Katharine had at- 
tended church regularly, and he saw the latter at 


30 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Sunday School and the King’s Daughters meet- 
ings. Beyond this he knew practically nothing 
of them. He had a sense of having in a meas- 
ure neglected his duty, and hardly knew how 
he would be received. But he felt that he must 
take up his position as spiritual guide and com- 
forter. 

He was ushered into the darkened parlor, and, 
after his eyes became accustomed to the change 
from the pale brightness of outdoors, he was 
surprised to find that he was not alone. 

A man sat in an easy chair by the hearth, 
sorting a packet of papers on his knee by the 
fitful light of a coal fire. He was a thin man, 
of average height, with large, clean-cut features. 
His face was smooth-shaven except for a droop- 
ing mustache which almost entirely concealed his 
mouth. The face was good-looking ; would have 
been absolutely handsome if it had not been for 
the eyes, which were small, shifty and set some- 
what too near together. 

Mr. Griggs, for it was he, rose at once, 
pocketed his papers and coming forward, in- 
troduced himself. 

“ Ah,” said Mr. Phelps, in his slow, constrained 
voice, “ how do you do ? Are you the father of 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM 


31 


Jim Griggs ? Jim is in my Bible class. He’s a 
fine boy — a fine boy. You should be proud of 
him, sir.” 

The lawyer smiled without humor. It was a 
new sensation to be recognized as the father of 
his son. But he was proud of the praise, for 
Jim occupied the soft spot in his father’s heart. 

‘‘ Er — ah — as you are the family lawyer,” con- 
tinued the clergyman deprecatingly, “perhaps 
you could — ah — would — tell me a little more of 
Mrs. Allen and — ah — the late departed ? I know 
— ah — I realize that they are members of my 
congregation,” he apologized as though confessing 
a sin, “ but for some — ah — er — for some reason, 
I have never managed to come into close — ah — - 
relations with them. I dare say — ah — I grant 
that the fault is mine, but — um — er — the fact 

remains ” he was on his toes by this time, 

with the tips of his fingers meeting, and felt 
more at his ease. 

But he was not all mannerism. His heart 
was simple and capable of great feeling. Mr. 
Griggs, however, not keen at reading below the 
surface, failed to see tlirough the veil and felt 
contemptuous. 

“ I can give you facts,” he replied with rough 


32 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


frankness. ‘‘ Mrs. Allen is a chronic invalid 
— unnecessarily so — the daughter is — well, a 
precocious child and Mr. Allen was a specu- 
lator.” 

“ A speculator ! Ah ! ” ejaculated the clergy- 
man and stopped. 

Mr. Griggs regarded the thin, scholarly face 
for a moment with a curious stare and then, 
shrugging his shoulders, he turned and left the 
room. At the threshold lie met Katharine. He 
started back and looked confused, then bowed 
silently and hurried away. Katharine closed 
her eyes. She knew that the lawyer was the 
last person who had seen her father alive. 

In a moment she entered the parlor with the 
request that the clergyman accompany her up- 
stairs as her mother was not able to come down. 

Mrs. Allen, possessed of the nervous remnant 
of a charming manner, greeted him graciously, 
with fitting emotion. 

“ You will pardon my not rising,” she said as 
Mr. Phelps advanced to the side of her couch, 
“ but as you know, I am something of an in- 
valid and this dreadful calamity has completely 
prostrated me.” 

She turned away her face and put her hand- 


IN MRS. ALLEN’S ROOM 


33 


kerchief quickly to her eyes. It was not for the 
clergyman to judge, but he felt his heart move 
with a sudden pity for the young girl beside 
him, with her pale face and quivering lips. In 
the midst of sorrow his manner, and the shyness 
that tinged it with affectation, sank into the 
background and his spirituality, that gave others 
confidence in him, enwrapped him. 

He spoke a few earnest words and then asked 
permission to offer up a short prayer. When 
she rose again, Katharine felt strangely uplifted 
and strengthened ; more prepared to face the 
sad days that were to follow. 

3 


CHAPTER IV 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 

The reading of the will was to take place on 
the day after the funeral. The reading of the 
will ! It sounded very solemn to Katharine, and 
it was with a feeling akin to awe that she took 
her seat in the parlor that morning, with Mr. 
Griggs, Mr. Phelps and Dr. Warren, the doctor 
and clergyman having been invited by Mrs. 
Allen to attend the reading. The time set was 
eleven. It was an awkward hour for the three 
busy men, but Mrs. Allen declared that she could 
not possibly get down-stairs any earlier. Even 
then she was late and they were all waiting a 
trifle impatiently. General greetings were ex- 
changed and almost immediately Mr. Griggs 
took up the document, broke the seal and began 
to read. 

Katharine could not follow the legal phrases 
and terms with comprehension. But that the 
will was not what her mother had expected, she 
34 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


35 


guessed from her actions. Mrs. Allen had 
listened at first with a great show of emotion, 
but as the lawyer proceeded she dropped her 
handkerchief from her eyes, sat more erect in 
her chair and opened her lips once or twice as 
if to interrupt. Her face grew pale and anxious 
and she clasped her hands excitedly. 

“ Why, what can it mean ! ” she gasped as 
soon as the reading was finished. “ That can- 
not be right. You have made some mistake, 
Mr. Griggs. That must be an old will ! ” 

“ I am sorry to say that it is right, madam. 
This will was made less than two months ago. 
I myself drew it up under your late husband’s 
directions.” 

“ I can’t believe it ! If it had been dated 
some years ago — before we were well off — ! ” 
The three men sat in an embarrassed and un- 
comfortable silence, with downcast eyes. Kath- 
arine regarded them each in turn keenly, trying 
to read the answer to her frightened mental 
query, “ What does it mean ? ” 

Mrs. Allen read the silence aright and threw 
herself back in her chair with a moan. 

It is true, then. He has left us beggars ! ” 
she cried harshly. 


36 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Not exactly beggars, my dear lady,” inter- 
posed the lawyer mildly. “ There is something 
left.” 

But Mrs. Allen was not in a mood to listen 
to reason. She sobbed and moaned and quickly 
worked herself into a state of hysterics. The 
doctor hastened to her side. Miss Coatlee was 
summoned and Bridget sent to prepare hot- water 
bottles and a mustard bath. The poor lady 
was borne half conscious from the room, leaving 
the lawyer, the clergyman and Katharine behind. 

The two men seemed to have forgotten the 
girks presence so still she sat in her corner. 
They had taken up their hats to depart when 
Katharine spoke : 

“ Mr. Griggs,” she said, “ I should like to ask 
you a question before you go.” 

The lawyer started and a momentary expres- 
sion of irritation flitted across his face, curling 
the lips and darkening his brow. He turned 
sharply. 

“Well?” he asked, pausing, in a tone that 
hardly invited confidence. 

The clergyman had turned too, with a word 
of sympathy on his lips. He stopped, surprised 
at the lawyer’s change of tone. 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


3 / 


“ What is it, Miss Kate ? ” asked the lawyer 
impatiently, his dark brows meeting in a frown. 
“ I’m very busy this morning. Can’t this im- 
portant question of yours be put off ? ” 

Katharine detected the sarcasm in his tone 
and her cheeks reddened. 

“ No, it can’t, ” she answered shortly. “ And 
it is important. I want to know what my 
mother meant by saying that my father had 
left us beggars ? ” 

“ She meant what she said, I suppose,” re- 
plied Mr. Griggs suavely. 

With all his tact and grace of manner, the 
lawyer had never succeeded in becoming friends 
with Katharine Allen. Perhaps the best reason 
for this was that he had never tried. He con- 
sidered her forward and spoiled, allowed en- 
tirely too much freedom of speech and knowl- 
edge of family affairs for her age. Above all 
was it irritating to have her attempt a com- 
prehension of business. Katharine had always 
felt his attitude toward herself and resented it. 
She began now heartily to dislike him. 

“ But you yourself told her that it was not so 
bad as that,” she protested. 

‘‘Well, it’s not,” he returned, in much the 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


38 

tone that one uses in responding to a baby’s 
irrelevant chatter. 

Katharine sighed and with an effort sup- 
pressed her indignation. 

“ I wish very much you would explain things 
to me,” she said pleadingly. 

“ My dear child,” said the lawyer amicably, 
buttoning his overcoat, “I could not possibly 
give the time now to explain anything half so 
complicated. Don’t you know that this is a 
very unusual hour for a busy man to be away 
from his office ? Good morning, my dear. I’ll 
drop in this evening to see how your mother 
is.” 

He was half way to the door and Katharine’s 
rising sobs had stifled her voice. The clergy- 
man interposed. 

“ I — ah — I think Miss Katharine quite right 
in wishing to understand more clearly the con- 
tents of her father’s will, Mr. — ah — Mr. Griggs,” 
he said, with a peremptoriness of tone under the 
smoothness of his drawl, that caused the lawyer 
to pause and turn. 

“ It was only the legal terms I wanted ex- 
plained,” said Katharine, with a quick glance 
of gratitude towards Mr. Phelps. ^‘I have 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


39 


always been used to doing things for my mother 
and I want to help her in this. But if you are 
so busy, let me have the paper. I think I 
could puzzle it out by myself.” 

Mr. Griggs came back and seated himself, 
none too graciously, by the table, unfolding the 
will and spreading it out before him. Mr. Phelps 
also sat down again. Why he should have re- 
mained he hardly knew. Possibly it was a 
desire to see fair play. He appreciated the 
girl’s feelings and also the lawyer’s resentment 
at what he evidently considered a child’s inter- 
ference in that which was beyond her under- 
standing. But Katharine’s intelligence was 
above the average. Moreover, the present cir- 
cumstances had placed her in a position of 
responsibility to which she must rise, and she 
needed practical assistance, not patronizing 
rebuffs. 

If the lawyer resented his presence, he made 
no sign of it. 

“ In a word. Miss Kate,” he began, coming at 
once to the point, “this will signifies that, aside 
from a few Government securities, his life in- 
surance, the furniture in this house, and this 
property somewhere in northern Ohio marked 


40 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


‘waste land,’ your father had not a penny in 
the world when he died.” 

“ Oh ! ” cried Katharine in consternation, 
“ Then, what have we been living on ? ” 

The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. 

“Your father had plenty of money from time 
to time. He was a speculator,” he explained, 
with more kindness of tone, seeing the be- 
wilderment and distress in her face. “At 
times he was very well off indeed, rich in 
fact. But he lost moneyas quickly as he gained 
it.” 

The girl’s face paled and her eyes dilated 
with the horror of the question she dared not 
ask. “Was it — was it honest?” she panted 
with quivering lips. 

Mr. Griggs face grew an angry crimson and 
he sprang to his feet as though he had received 
a personal insult. 

“ Of course. It is merely a way of earning a 
living,” he answered curtly, and gathering up 
his papers, he left them abruptly. 

“ What did I say ? ” asked Katharine, turning 
to Mr. Phelps. “ Why did he go so suddenly ? 
W as it — is it true that it wasn’t honest ? Did 
he resent my saying that against his friend? 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


41 


As if I would not be the first to defend my 
own father ! ” she added proudly. 

Mr. Phelps shook his head, as much puzzled 
as herself by the lawyer’s action. 

“But,” she went on quickly, pursuing the 
train of her thought, “you do believe that 
father had money to pay our everyday expenses ; 
house rent, grocery bills and all that ? ” 

“ I am sure that your father lived honestly,” 
the clergyman hastened to reassure her. “Mr. 
Griggs told me that ever since he had known 
Mr. Allen, he had been remarkably successful 
in his business until about two months ago, 
when, early in December, he met with heavy 
losses.” 

“ In December ! Poor father, how frightfully 
worried he must have been ! ” sighed Katharine. 
“Yet he gave us a very merry Christmas,” and 
her hand sought caressingly the little gold 
watch that had been her father’s chief Christ- 
mas gift. 

There was a long pause during which Katha- 
rine was busy with grave thoughts. Then she 
looked up and said practically : 

“Will you please tell me, Mr. Phelps, how 
much you think we’ll have left to live upon ? ” 


42 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


The clergyman made a hasty mental calcula- 
tion and replied : 

“ About a thousand dollars a year.” 

“ A thousand dollars a year,” echoed Katha- 
rine, in a relieved voice. “ But that’s not so 
bad ! Why, we can be almost as comfortable 
as ever ! ” 

Mr. Phelps shook his head. 

“ I should judge,” he said slowly, looking 
about him, “ that the present rate of your liv- 
ing is about six thousand.” 

Six thousand dollars a year ! ” gasped Katha- 
rine in amazement. How could it be possible 
to spend so much money in a year ? ” 

The clergyman smiled sadly. 

“The rent on this house must be at least 
eighteen hundred,” he said. “ Then I dare say, 
you keep several servants ? ” 

“Four.” 

“ And your mother has her carriage, always 
an expensive luxury in a city.” 

Katharine sighed helplessly. 

“ I can see how the money would go — with 
the living expenses, clothes, and poor mother’s 
doctor bills. But what are we to do ? ” she 
asked dolefully. “We shall send away most 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


43 


of tlie servants, of course, sell the carriage and 
leave this big house. But mother has to have 
her comforts and luxuries. I don’t see how we 
can ever live on that amount, now that you 
have shown me how little it really is.” 

“ Don’t lose heart. Things are not so bad — 
not so bad,” repeated the clergyman vaguely. 
He knew so little of business himself, but she 
must be encouraged. “You can sub-let this 
house, furnished, until the lease expires ! ” he 
exclaimed inspired. “ It is large and so hand- 
somely furnished that it ought to bring twenty- 
five hundred at least. That will add another 
seven hundred to your income and make you 
very comfortable.” 

This idea so elated Mr. Phelps that he quite 
overcame Katharine’s fears. But she still felt 
very doubtful when he rose to go. 

After his departure she glanced down at her 
hands, in which she had been unconsciously 
twisting a bit of paper while she talked. She 
spread the sheet out with an exclamation of 
dismay. It was a memorandum in the lawyer’s 
handwriting, with a rude pencil sketch attached. 
The paper was badly rumpled and torn. 

“ Why, this belongs to Mr. Griggs,” she ex- 


44 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


claimed, smoothing it out carefully, “ and I 
have almost spoiled it.” 

She glanced at the paper more closely. The 
sketch indicated a rectangular plot of ground, 
with dimensions jotted down at intervals and 
in one corner the rough outlines of a building. 

“It is a plan of the Ohio property,” she 
thought, recognizing the name. “ I wonder 
why mother and I couldn’t go there to live. 
We would be living in our own house and so 
save rent. And it must be much cheaper to live 
in the country. I’ll suggest it to Mr. Griggs.” 

She folded the rumpled paper neatly and en- 
closed it in an envelope to be given to the 
lawyer on his next visit. 

But subsequent events put the idea of going 
there to live, for the time, entirely out of her 
head. 


CHAPTER V 


THE DOCTOR^S 

However much the n on-superstitious may 
scoff at sayings, the tradition that sorrows and 
breakages come in threes, is very apt to prove 
true. If Katharine had been a philosopher, 
this would no doubt have been her reflection 
when, one afternoon two weeks after her father’s 
tragic death, the doctor came to her and asked 
for a few minutes’ conversation. 

She was sitting alone in the dusk of the 
parlor. She had been out walking, but the 
bleak gray day had done little to help cheer 
her spirits, and she felt listless and blue. When 
the doctor said, Miss Kate, I have something 
to tell you,” she knew at once that it was bad 
news and her heart sank. 

‘Wes ? ” she asked faintly. 

The doctor tried to beat about the bush. 

“It concerns your mother,” he said slowly. 

45 


46 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

“She — she is not doing so well as I had ex- 
pected.” 

Katharine sprang from her chair and crossed 
to where the doctor was standing. Her face 
was white and her blue eyes dark and dilated 
with alarm. 

“ She’s — she’s not worse, doctor ? Oh, you 
mustn’t let her get worse ! ” 

“No, no. She’s not worse, but she’s not 
better. She does not improve as quickly as she 
ought. I have consulted with Dr. James of the 
St. Ursula Hospital and he agrees with me that 
a change of treatment is necessary.” 

“ Well, why don’t you give it to her ? ” asked 
Katharine bluntly. 

“ I can’t, here.” 

“ You mean that she needs to go away some- 
where ? ” 

“ Exactly. She must go to a hospital.” 

“ A hospital ! ” ejaculated Katharine, vague 
horrors of ether, hushed voices and white 
bandages crowding her mind. A hospital 
seemed to her the extreme of seriousness. “ Oh, 
doctor, is it so bad as that ? ” 

The doctor could not restrain a smile. 

“ Take that frightened look out of your eyes,” 


THE DOCTOR’S PLAN 


47 


lie said cheerfully, “ hospitals are not the dens 
wherein we doctors work our dire evil, as your 
expression would suggest. Your mother must 
go to the hospital because at home she cannot 
receive the course of treatment nor the care 
that she needs. The St. Ursula is a private 
hospital, so that she will be as comfortable and 
secluded as in her own house.” 

“ Will you still be her doctor ? ” asked Kath- 
arine, her heart very heavy in spite of his cheer- 
ful, matter* of -fact tone. 

Yes, Dr. James and I will share the case. 
And Miss Coatlee will remain with her, you 
will be glad to hear.” 

“Yes, Miss Coatlee is a great comfort,” 
replied Katharine in the grateful tone of one 
accustomed to grasp at straws. 

The doctor guessed her state of mind and sat 
down to reassure her. 

“ When — when must she go ? ” queried Kath- 
arine. 

“The sooner the better. No, don’t look at 
me in that startled manner. There’s no actual 
danger. But there are several excellent reasons 
for making the change at once. 

“The first and best reason is that your 


48 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


mother’s depression is growing steadily deeper. 
We think that this is caused by the associations 
of this house, and it is impairing her strength. 
Then, the sooner you can both leave the house, 
the sooner it will be ready for a tenant. I know 
you are very anxious to procure one. 

“ Now my plan is this : Move your mother 
to the hospital at the earliest possible date and, 
while she is there, you come to us for a visit. 
Mrs. AVarren and Alice will both be delighted 
to have you, and perhaps the change will help 
you to see the future through less dark glasses.” 

“You are very good, doctor. I should love 
to come if you are sure Mrs. AYarren wdll want 
me. Shall I be able to visit my mother often ? ” 

“Everyday. Come, come, cheer up! You 
see it is not so bad. AVhere is your clear little 
head ? It is a very sensible arrangement indeed. 
Your mother is safe and well-taken care of for 
a time, the house is ready for a paying tenant, 
and your immediate future is provided for. 
AYho knows what may turn up in the mean- 
time ? ” 

“You are sure that mother is not — not 
dangerously ill ? ” 

“Absolutely sure, my child — if she has 


THE DOCTOR’S PLAN 


49 


proper care and not too inucli indulgence of lier 
feelings. Now, we may consider the matter 
settled? ” 

“ I suppose so. Whatever you think best.” 

‘‘Very well. I shall goat once to Dr. James 
and make the necessary arrangements. Your 
mother has been told of the plan and is quite 
reconciled.” 

The busy doctor took his leave reluctantly, 
carrying with him on his rounds the picture of 
a sad-faced girl, sitting alone in a dark, gloomy 
parlor. 

His own home, when he entered it some 
hours later, was a brilliant contrast to the big, 
gloomy house he had quitted in the afternoon. 
Bright gas-jets and soft lamps burned every- 
where, and a flashing coal Are glowed on the 
hearth. 

Mrs. Warren looked up from her reading as 
he entered the parlor and smiled a cordial 
welcome. 

“ You are late to-night,” she said, laying 
aside the evening paper and rising to greet him. 
“ Dinner is waiting.” 

It was indeed, past seven o’clock and the 
doctor was hungry after his busy day. 

4 


50 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Where is Alice ? ” lie asked, following his 
wife into the large, cheery dining-room. 

The heavy black oak sideboard shone and 
glittered with silver and cut-glass, with which 
the massive, white-spread table was also covered. 

“ She has gone to a little supper party,” re- 
plied Mrs. Warren, taking her seat. “ You 
know I always allow her some little pleasure 
on Friday evening, after her week of study.” 

A shade of anxiety crossed the doctor’s 
benevolent brow. 

“ A very wise idea,” he approved. ‘‘ A 
wholesome mixing of study and play is the best 
plan. ‘ All work and no play, makes Jack a dull 
boy.’ Has Alice seemed quite well to you 
lately ? ” he added with a would-be-carelessness 
of tone, and beginning to eat his soup. 

Mrs. Warren, familiar with his habits of 
thought, was prompt to take alarm. 

‘‘You don’t think she’s ill, do you?” she 
asked quickly. Their only daughter was very 
precious to them both. 

“ No, no, not ill — not even ailing,” answered 
the doctor. “ But she is so high-strung that it 
would take little to upset her. You must not 
let her get too much either of study or excite- 


THE DOCTOR’S PLAN 


51 


ment. Such a temperament as hers needs close 
watching and a sensible, wholesome environ- 
ment. Hysteria is a fearful disease.” 

‘‘Alice is not in danger of hysteria!” ex- 
claimed his wife indignantly. “You do look 
at everything from such a — such a medical 
point of view. She is only very aifectionate 
and demonstrative.” 

The doctor smiled. 

“ There, there, I am sure she is in no danger 
of anything,” he said smoothly. “ How could 
she be, with such a mother 1 ” he added gal- 
lantly. “ But we must get her away from the 
city next summer. I wish she had a regular 
story-book grandfather with a big farm, princi- 
pally hay-fields, where we could send her to be 
turned loose, like a colt put out to pasture.” 

“ However,” he went on, “ I am rather glad 
that she is not here for dinner, as I have a little 
matter to discuss with you, and as I must go 
out again this evening, now is our only oppor- 
tunity.” 

“ Oh, dear, must you go out again ! I was 
hoping to have you quite to myself all evening.” 

“ I can’t neglect my duty, my dear.” 

“ But a doctor’s duty never seems to be done. 


52 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Other men have hours for their business, but 
doctors can never call any time their own.” 

“It would be difficult to set hours for be- 
coming ill in,” laughed her husband. “And 
when the illness comes, then must the doctor 
come too. A physician is like a hydrant or a 
gas-pipe, always in readiness for the convenience 
of the public.” 

“ Don’t joke about it,” pleaded his wife. “ I 
do think it too bad that you can never have a 
moment in which to enjoy yourself. The first 
Paderewski concert is to-night and I was hoping 
you could go with me. Now I shall have to 
telephone to the Dales and ask if I may go 
with them. They offered to stop for me, but I 
had promised myself your company.” 

“ It is too bad, my dear. I should like to go. 
Perhaps I may be able to drop in before the 
end of the concert, hear a number or two, and 
bring you home.” 

“ That will be better than not having you at 
all,” replied his wife reluctantly. “ But what is 
it you have to tell me ? ” she asked, her curiosity 
unable to wait longer for satisfaction. 

“ It is a question of bringing happiness to 
some one else, and of giving ourselves pleasure 


THE DOCTOR’S PLAN 


53 

at fhe same time, I Lope,” replied the doctor 
gravely. 

“ It is always a pleasure to make other people 
have a good time,” said Mrs. Warren heartily. 
Is it to take sonae of your poor cripples to the 
matinee, get up a donation of toys for the Chil- 
dren’s Hospital, or hold an Old Woman’s Home 
sewing bee ? ” she asked, for she was well ac- 
quainted with the eccentric requests of the 
philanthropic doctor. 

Her husband laughed in spite of himself. 

“No,” he said. “It’s not any of those this 
time. It is to invite Katharine Allen here for 
a visit.” 


CHAPTER VI 


AN INVITATION 

“ Ask Katharine Allen here for a visit ! ” 
exclaimed Mrs. Warren in astonishment. “ But 
how can she leave her mother and her own 
home ? ” 

The doctor had become serious again. 

“ That is just the point,” he replied. “ Her 
mother is about to leave her and the home to 
be broken up.” 

You don’t mean that Mrs. Allen is going to 
die ! ” cried his wife. “ I thought you con- 
sidered her illness to be mostly imaginary.” 

“ So I did until within the past week. She’s 
not in absolute danger, but the long strain 
she has undergone and the two severe mental 
shocks have developed several rather alarming 
symptoms.” 

“Two shocks! What misfortune has she 
had beside her husband’s tragic death ? ” 

“It seems that Mrs. Allen thought herself 
54 


AN INVITATION 


55 


left in very comfortable circumstances, whereas 
the will shows that there is very little for them 
to live upon.” 

‘‘ Why, that is surprising ! What is the 
reason ? I judged that they were very well off 
indeed. She keeps a carriage, several servants, 
and their house is gorgeously furnished. Then, 
too, Katharine has always been better dressed 
than I could afford with Alice,” she added with 
a sigh. 

Indeed, Katharine’s frocks had been a source 
of secret envy to Mrs. Warren. Though of a 
simple design, they were always of the costliest 
materials, and of a style that betokened the 
hands of a fashionable modiste. Whereas 
Alice’s own dresses were made in the house, 
very often out of her mother’s cut over. 
But then, the doctor had his philanthropic 
charities to support and a certain ambition, 
known only to his wife and himself, to endow 
the Children’s Hospital. 

Mrs. Warren’s regret upon hearing of this 
new trouble was very genuine. 

AVhat in the world will they do ! ” she cried. 

If Mrs. Allen should die, it would leave Katha* 
rine absolutely alone. Poor child ! ” 


5^ HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

“ She could make her way, plucky little girl,” 
said the doctor. “ It would be almost to her 
advantage if her mother should have to die,” he 
added a trifle cold-bloodedly. “ She will never 
be anything but a drag on the girl — unless she 
marries again.” 

“ What a thought ! So soon after her hus- 
band’s death ! ” 

“ She’s the sort to be easily consoled, I think.” 

“ She’s not dangerously ill, you say ? Then 
what did you mean by saying that she was 
about to leave Katharine ? ” 

“ We are going to take her to the St. Ursula 
Hospital. Dr. J ames and I think a rest cure is 
the proper treatment. But there is to be an 
operation first. This will be so slight and so safe 
that I did not tell Kate of it. I knew that she 
would not be able to understand that there is no 
danger.” 

“ There is none? You are sure?” asked his 
wife a trifle anxiously. She had a feminine 
dread of surgery. “ It would be dreadful for 
Katharine not to have known if ” 

“ If fiddlesticks, my dear. I tell you there is 
no more danger than if I were going to manicure 
her finger-nails. And mind you don’t let 


AN INVITATION 


57 


Kate know. She has enough to worry her as 
it is.” 

“ Of course I shall not tell her. When is Mrs. 
Allen to go to the hospital ?” 

“Within the next week. The sooner the 
better.” 

“And you want Katharine to stay with us 
while her mother is there ? ” 

“ Exactly. Indeed, I have already asked her, 
though of course you will endorse my invitation ? 
She could board at the school,” he added diplo- 
matically, thinking his wife’s sympathy not suf- 
ficiently roused, “ but it would be dreary and un- 
homelike for her.” 

“ Of course it would,” assented Mrs. Warren 
warmly. “But I suppose it will be a pretty 
long visit ? ” 

“ Two months at least. Perhaps longer,” re- 
plied the doctor promptly. “ But you will not 
find it inconvenient. She can share Alice’s room 
and will drop into our ways at once, like a mem- 
ber of the family. She is a lovable girl and 
has many fine qualities. Indeed, I think her 
influence will prove most excellent for Alice.” 

“ I know that Alice is very fond of her. And 
I admired her courage and self-control at the 


58 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

time of her father’s death. How does she take 
the news of their change of fortune ? ” 

“Very hard. She feels the responsibility of 
it all heavily. She is worried for fear they are 
spendingmoney that they haven’t any right to.” 
“ Who is their lawyer ? ” 

“ A man named Griggs. I don’t know any- 
thing about him, but I didn’t fancy him particu- 
larly. I’ve asked one or two men on ’Change 
about him and they are not over-enthusiastic. 
Still, he appeared to have known Allen most 
intimately and is on very good terms with the 
widow.” 

There was something in the doctor’s tone that 
brought to Mrs. Warren’s mind his remark about 
Mrs. Allen’s being easily consoled. But she 
made no comment. 

“Jim Griggs is one of Alice’s friends,” she 
said, “ and seems like a very nice boy indeed. 
But if Mr. Griggs isn’t trustworthy, how did 
Mr. Allen happen to employ him ? ” 

“ My dear, I didn’t say he was not trustworthy. 
I dare say he and Allen had business dealings 
together. Allen was a speculator, you know.” 

“ I didn’t know,” replied his wife coldly. She 
classed speculators with gamblers. 


AN INVITATION 


59 


Kate has been talking over matters with 
Mr. Phelps,” went on the doctor, ignoring her 
change of tone. “ He advises her to sub-let 
their house furnished. He thinks they can get 
another seven hundred a year for it. I doubt 
if it will bring as much as that, but still Katha- 
rine is anxious to get a tenant.” 

“ What does her mother think of it ? A 
woman doesn’t like the idea of other people 
using her things.” 

“ Mrs. Allen has not been well enough to dis- 
cuss business. But of course she will consent, 
as it is the only thing to be done. Sentiment 
has to step aside for necessity.” 

‘‘And Katharine is to attend to everything? 
Poor child, what a load of responsibility at her 
age ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Warren, filled with 
sympathy. “ Of course she shall come here.” 

“ I’m glad you are willing to give her a home 
for awhile,” replied the doctor, folding his nap- 
kin with a hasty glance at the clock. “ I’m sure 
you’ll never regret it.” 

Mrs. Warren wrote her note early next morn- 
ing and Alice herself took it over to the Allen 
house, for it was Saturday. 

“ Just to think, Kathie dear,” she cried rap- 


6o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


turously, “ mamma says you are to stay with us 
for two whole months ! Two months and maybe 
longer ! Why, it will be like having a sister ! ” 

“ Two months ! — Will mother have to stay at 
the hospital as long as that ! ” exclaimed Kath- 
arine, growing pale with alarm. “I’m afraid 
the doctor thinks her very ill indeed ! ” 

“ Oh, no. It’s a rest cure papa says she is 
going to have, “ Alice replied quickly. “ And 
you know rest cures are awfully slow. Indeed, 
they take nothing but time. They’re just a 
joke, I think.” 

Katharine let herself be reassured and the 
two friends fell to discussing the approaching 
visit with much eagerness. 

“ And I’m going back to school again, after the 
house is closed and all,” announced Katharine. 

“ How glorious ! The girls have asked me 
every day if you were coming back. What 
jolly times we’ll have getting our lessons to- 
gether. The new term begins on Monday. It’s 
too bad you can’t start right in.” 

“ Oh, I shouldn’t want to,” exclaimed Kath- 
arine quickly. “ Not until everything’s settled 
about mother.” 

“Well, you won’t be so awfully behind. All 


AN INVITATION 


6i 


the time since you left has been taken up with 
reviews and exams, and I’ll mark the new les- 
sons and take notes for you, so you can make 
them up easily.” 

“ That’s awfully good of you, you dear old 
chum,” cried Katharine gratefully. “ And now 
tell me how all the girls stood in their exams., 
and what new lessons they’ve put on the coarse 
for this term.” 

Alice launched forth on a long recital of 
school gossip and soon the two girls were laugh- 
ing merrily. They were interrupted by the 
sound of the front door opening and Bridget 
ushered in a visitor for Katharine. 

He was a tall, slim boy of seventeen or there- 
abouts, with a shock of reddish hair, a pair of 
honest blue eyes and a comely, freckled face. 
He carried a pair of skates by a strap. 

‘‘ Hello, girls,” he said genially. “ Get on 
your things and come skating. The ice is 
great.” 

“ Why, I didn’t know it was cold enough ! ” 
exclaimed Alice in delight. “Can you wait 
while I run home and get my skates ? ” 

“ Sure, run along. Hurry up and get on your 
duds, Kate.” 


62 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“Oh, I can’t go, I mustn’t,” replied Katharine, 
sorely tempted, for she was devoted to all out- 
door sports and skating, her favorite, came so 
seldom as to be a rare treat. “I’ve got too much 
to do and I mustn’t leave mother.” 

They both endeavored to persuade her, but 
she would not yield. 

“I can’t, honestly,” she said. “Don’t tease 
any more, for I want to go so much and you 
make it all the harder.” 

“ Oh, pshaw ! ” exclaimed Jim disappointedly. 
“ Well, then, if the ice keeps will you 2:0 next 
Saturday?” 

“Yes, indeed. I’ll be with Alice then and 
we can all go together. “ Will you wait while 
I write a little note to your mother ? ” she added 
as Alice rose to go. “ It’s awfully sweet of her 
to want me to visit you. You know I never 
was good at saying what I feel, but I hope she 
and your father understand how much I thank 
them for asking me.” 

When Mrs. Allen heard of the proposed visit 
she also wrote a note of thanks to Mrs. Warren. 
It was a very elaborately worded epistle, ex- 
pressing gratitude for Mrs. Warren’s generous 
hospitality in “taking in for a time her pre- 


AN INVITATION 


63 


cious, fatherless child,” and so forth. The doc- 
tor’s wife was much better pleased with the few 
simple words in which Katharine accepted her 
invitation. 


CHAPTER VII 
A BUNCH OF LETTEES 


Mrs. Allen’s strength seemed to keep up so 
well that it was decided to take her to the hos^ 
pltal on the following Wednesday. This left 
but four days in which to pack not only Mrs. 
Allen’s and Katharine’s own clothes, and the 
belongings of the late Mr. Allen, but to put the 
house in order for a prospective tenant. 

Upon Katharine’s shoulders, of course, fell the 
burden of superintending this task, and a very 
great deal of the actual labor as well. For she 
had dismissed three of the servants immediately 
after hearing of the reduced state of their circum- 
stances. Bridget was retained as maid-of-all- 
work, and would have gotten through her duties 
admirably if it had not been for the time lost 
by her frequent outbursts of tears and denunci- 
ations of the fate that had caused her poor little 
mistress (Katharine had always been the recog- 
nized mistress of the household) so much trouble 
and herself to lose a good place. 

64 


A BUNCH OF LETTERS 65 

Katharine had closed off as many of the rooms 
as were not absolutely needed, among others 
the dining-room. The small back parlor was 
reached quite as conveniently from the dumb- 
waiter by a tiny rear hall, and she preferred to 
take such meals as she ate by herself, there. 
The dining-room was filled with too many asso- 
ciations. But she generally shared her mother’s 
repasts in the invalid’s room, which Miss Coatlee 
managed always to make cheerful and attract- 
ive. The tables and mantel were covered with 
vases and bowls of cut flowers, sent in by kind 
neighbors, and the low square table, white spread 
by the hearth, had ever a home-like air. 

It was the afternoon previous to their depar- 
ture. Katharine had paused in the midst of her 
packing to rest, drawn to her mother’s room by 
the tempting tinkle of china and silver. Miss 
Coatlee was preparing Mrs. Allen’s cup of after- 
noon tea and a shining brass kettle hummed 
cheerily over the spirit-lamp. Katharine sank 
into a low chair by the fire with a little sigh of 
fatigue, and begged for a cup of weak tea. She 
was generally not allowed this beverage, her 
mother considering her too young to partake 
of it. 

5 


66 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Have Bridget make you a cup of chocolate, 
Kate,” Mrs. Allen exclaimed. “You know I 
don’t like you to drink tea. It will make you 
nervous.” 

“Just one cup, mother. It won’t hurt me. 
I’m so 'tired and thirsty, and I can’t ask Bridget 
to stop her work and go down to the kitchen 
now.” 

“ It’s nothing for her to do. And who said 
anything about asking,” replied her mother 
autocratically. “ She’s a servant and receives 
orders.” 

Katharine did not respond so she continued 
in an injured voice: 

“ I suppose you’ll take the tea — ^no matter 
what my ideas are on the subject, or my wishes 
either. You are so headstrong and wilful. It 
is all your father’s fault. He would indulge 
you so.” 

Katharine turned her head quickly away, but 
not before the nurse had caught sight of the 
quivering lips and eyes filled with tears. She 
bent over the fire a moment and then sat erect, 
saying quietly : 

“ Never mind about the tea, mother. I’ll 
take a piece of bread and butter now, and get a 


A BUNCH OF LETTERS 67 

glass of water when I go down-stairs. It will 
quench my thirst much better.” 

“ How nice this brown bread and butter is,” 
she went on brightly, “ cut so thin and all. Miss 
Coatlee, you have such a knack of making the 
most everyday things tasteful and dainty.” 

Miss Coatlee smiled a silent thanks for this 
compliment, saw that Mrs. Allen had her tea 
properly sugared and then slipped out of the 
room. 

“ Speaking of your father reminds me,” said 
Mrs. Allen after she had gone, “ I should like 
you to go over the things in his room this 
afternoon, Kate.” 

Katharine paled. 

“ I have already packed most of the clothes,” 
she replied in a low voice. “ But those in his 
bureau — the things that he wore every day, and 
his letters and all ; I thought I’d put those in a 
trunk by themselves and send it to the hospital. 
Then when you are better, you can go over 
them yourself. I thought you would wish it 
that way.” 

“ Oh, that’s impossible,” exclaimed her mother 
impatiently. “ The hospital hasn’t room to store 
away people’s sentimentalities. Besides, it 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


would only harrow me all over again when the 
time came for me to look them over — if it ever 
should come,” she added gloomily. “No, Kate, 
you do it now. Most of the letters, if you come 
across any, can be destroyed, I dare say. The 
valuable papers were all at his office and Mr. 
Griggs has attended to matters there. Any you 
are in doubt about you may put into the trunk 
with the other things and they can be stored in 
the attic with the rest of the clothes.” 

“Very well, mother,” replied Katharine, ris- 
ing, “ I’ll do it right away.” 

She started to leave the room and then paused, 
perceiving Miss Coatlee’s absence. 

“ Do you mind being left alone a moment ? ” 
she asked. “I expect she’ll be right back.” 

She handed her mother her book — a paper- 
covered novel — and left the room, feeling very 
little rested indeed. The task before her was a 
painful one, but with her usual courage in meet- 
ing troubles, she set about it at once. 

A trunk had already been carried into her 
father’s room, and taking out the bureau drawers 
in turn, she laid their contents into it with lov- 
ing, reverent hands. Her packing was neat 
and methodical, and in a very short time all the 


A BUNCH OF LETTERS 69 

drawers were emptied except the top one, which 
was locked. 

She turned the key, and lifting out the 
drawer, sat down beside it on the floor. There 
were several cases of different sizes in it, con- 
taining collars, cuffs, handkerchiefs and ties. 
A smaller box held studs, sleeve-links and vari- 
ous small articles of masculine jewelry, while 
in a round chamois case was the handsome gold 
watch and chain that her father had always 
worn. The remaining third of the drawer was 
filled with small piles of letters, neatly packeted. 
Each package was enclosed with a band of 
paper, sealed with her father’s seal. 

Just as Katharine was about to lift out the 
first of these bundles, the door opened and 
Miss Coatlee entered. She carried a tray upon 
which was a plate of brown bread and butter, 
cut to a most tempting thinness, a glass of water 
and a cup of steaming, fragrant chocolate. 

“ Oh, Miss Coatlee,” cried Katharine delight- 
edly, “ how very kind and thoughtful of you to 
take all this trouble forme ! I am so hungry.” 

Miss Coatlee smiled. 

“ Of course you are, with all your hard work. 
Now I must go back to your mother or she 


;o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


will get impatient,” and she hurried out of the 
room before Katharine could further express 
her thanks. 

The girl sat down on the floor again, grate- 
fully sipping her chocolate while she looked 
over the letters. By lifting the ends of the 
envelopes she could see that each package con- 
sisted of letters in the same h and ting, sys- 
tematically labeled and filed chronologically. 
There was a packet marked, “ From my mother.” 
It was yellowed with age and the envelopes 
were worn and gray at the edges. There were 
other bundles, bearing dates and names un- 
known to Katharine. Then came two thick, 
voluminous budgets, one marked, in careful, 
underscored lettering, as though the writer had 
paused lovingly over the words and gone back 
to emphasize them, “From my sweetheart.” 
The second was labeled, “ From my wife.” 

Katharine laid the two bundles aside and 
took up the last remaining one in the drawer. 
It contained all the letters that she herself had 
ever written her father, from her first baby 
scrawl to those she had sent him from the sea- 
side resort where she and her mother had spent 
the previous summer. At the bottom of the 


A BUNCH OF LETTERS 


71 


pile was a long, business-looking envelope, on 
the back of which was inscribed, in her father’s 
handwriting : 

“ For my dear daughter. To be given her 
on her eighteenth birthday, and may it turn out 
to be a more valuable gift than I can hope for 
at present.” 

Below this was a date of the previous autumn. 

Hastily laying in the other packets of letters, 
she locked the trunk and taking this package, 
to which she felt she had a private right, Katha- 
rine quitted the room on her way to her own. 

In the hall Bridget met her with a message 
from her mother. Mr. Griggs was down-stairs 
and Mrs. Allen did not feel equal to receiving. 
Katharine was to go down, therefore, and learn 
what he wanted. 

She descended at once, still holding the 
bundle of letters in her hand. 

Mr. Griggs was standing before the fire in 
the parlor, his hands behind him and his chin 
tilted. He hummed an air of tuneless harmony 
as he glanced nonchalantly about him. Upon 
Katharine’s entrance he ceased his humming, 
but did not move from his comfortable position 
on the hearth-rug. 


72 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Well, little girl,” he said in the patronizing 
tone she so heartily resented, “ I suppose your 
mother is making a ‘ grande toilette ’ in which 
to receive me. How long must I be kept 
waiting ? ” 

“ Y ou need not be kept waiting at all, sir,” 
she replied coolly. “My mother is not well 
enough to see you to-day, and has asked me to 
carry her your message.” 

“ Not well enough to see me ! ” exclaimed the 
lawyer irritatedly. “But I must see her. I 
came on a matter of business.” 

As he spoke, his glance fell on the bundle of 
letters in Katharine’s hand. 

‘‘ What is that ? ” he asked abruptly. 

Katharine’s eyes followed the direction of 
his gaze and instinctively she drew back. 

“ That is something of mine,” she replied 
calmly. 

But her voice tightened and she clasped the 
package more firmly. -^Mr. Griggs’ first im- 
pulse was to take forcible possession of the 
parcel, but he restrained himself. In spite of 
his universal contemptuous treatment of Katha- 
rine as merely a precocious child, the manner 
was only a pose. At heart he respected the 


A BUNCH OF LETTERS 


73 


girl’s cleverness and strength of mind, and, to 
his own chagrin, he stood somewhat in fear of 
her. 

His quick eye had recognized, in the document 
that Katharine held, something that he had 
missed from among his client’s papers, and for 
which he had searched most diligently, in vain. 

“ I dare say you’ve brought them down for me 
to put away with the other papers in the safe,” 
he remarked carelessly, advancing with out- 
stretched hand. 

Katharine retreated a step and put the pack- 
age behind her back. 

“No, I did not bring them down to give you,” 
she replied, endeavoring to keep the fear out of 
her voice. “ I happened to be carrying them to 
my room when Bridget told me you were here, 
and I came directly down so as not to keep you 
waiting. What word do you wish to send to 
my mother ? ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 

Mr. Griggs stopped and regarded the girl 
steadfastly. She was standing erect, her head 
thrown back defiantly. One hand rested on the 
table beside her ; the other, containing the 
bundle of letters, was thrust behind her back. 

He saw that she had no intention of yielding 
the package upon command. Of course it would 
be the matter of an instant to wrest it from 
her grasp, but both breeding and policy forbade 
the use of physical force. It came to him sud- 
denly as he stood there regarding the strong, 
determined face before him, that his wisest 
course lay in conciliating Katharine. He 
realized that, in spite of the youth it had been 
his pleasure to ridicule, and the inexperience 
that he had counted upon to rob her of any 
power to come in his way, or to interfere with 
his plans — he realized that, young and worldly- 
ignorant as she was, Katharine could become 
74 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 


75 


a very inconvenient enemy. He changed liis 
tactics at once, the more readily that there had 
been no depth to his former attitude of mockery. 

“ I beg your pardon,” he said, with a tone of 
deference in his voice that both surprised and 
deceived Katharine. “ I saw that big, business- 
looking letter and took it for gi*anted that 
your mother had sent me the papers. I had 
told her that one or two were missing from your 
father’s desk.” 

He veiled the keenness of his scrutiny as he 
spoke, but it was none the less penetrating. 

Katharine was pacified at once by this plaus- 
ible explanation. It was not pleasant to dis- 
like the man in whom her mother reposed such 
complete confidence. It was most disquieting 
to be at enmity with him who held the intimate 
position of family counselor. If he was going 
to abandon his supercilious mocking manner of 
treating her as a baby in leading strings, she 
was quite ready to meet him half way on the 
ground of amiability. 

However, she was no more disposed to yield 
what she considered her personal property — the 
only direct legacy her father had left her. 

‘‘ No,” she replied graciously, responding at 


76 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

once to liis overtures of good-will, “mother 
did not send them. They are all the letters 
that I ever wrote to my father. He kept every 
one.” 

Her voice softened as she looked down at 
tlie package which she had laid beside her on 
the table. 

“ The big envelope is for me, too,” she went 
on. “ I don’t know what is in it, but father 
has written on the back that he intended to 
give it to me on my eighteenth birthday.” 

The lawyer could not entirely conceal his 
eagerness and impatience. 

“ Suppose we take it out and glance at it,” he 
suggested, “ I dare say it is the identical docu- 
ment over the disappearance of which I have 
been worrying for the past two weeks.” 

“ Oh, I can’t take it out. The whole pack- 
age is sealed, don’t you see ? ” exclaimed Katha- 
rine. 

“But the band is quite loose. The paper 
would easily slip out.” 

Katharine’s manner assumed the defensive 
again. 

“No, I don’t wish to disturb it. The paper 
is marked for me and I intend to keep it.” 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 


77 


As she spoke she turned the package over so 
that the lawyer could read what was written 
on the back. A sudden recollection of Mr. 
Allen’s words, I had planned to make a dif- 
ferent use of that land,” flashed across his brain 
and his eyes gleamed. 

“ Those words prove that I and not you, 
should be the one to take charge of it,” he said. 
“ You are not eighteen years old yet, I take it?” 

‘‘ I am nearly sixteen,” said Katharine quickly 
with a ring of deflance for there had been a 
suspicion of a sneer in the lawyer’s voice. 

“ Ah, but don’t you think,” he replied, with 
a quick return to his deferential tone, “ doesn’t 
it strike you that your family lawyer is the 
proper custodian for all legal papers until such 
time as they are to be disposed of ? ” 

“ Disposed of ! But this is not to be dis- 
posed of. It’s my own.” 

“ I used the Avrong term,” he replied suavely. 
“ I should have said acted upon. That paper 
is of no legal value to you until your eighteenth 
birthday. In the meantime, unless I have it to 
file away Avith the other securities, in what 
manner am I to account for it ? ” 

Katharine hesitated. It was not at all clear 


78 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


to her for what or to whom Mr. Griggs was to 
be held accountable, but his argument sounded 
reasonable. But only for a moment. Then 
her resolution strengthened. 

“This paper will be quite — yes, absolutely 
safe with me, Mr. Griggs. I shall not open it 
and shall hold myself responsible for it. If 
ever any one comes with a right to question. 
I’ll let them see it willingly. But until then, I 
intend to keep it. Now, what was it you 
wanted to see mother about ? ” 

She took up the package again and held it in 
her lap. Mr. Griggs saw that for the moment 
he was worsted and with the best grace at his 
command, accepted his defeat. He would bide 
his time. 

Thereupon it appeared that his errand had 
been with Katharine after all, for it was to ask 
her to take charge of the house key on the 
following afternoon, until he could call or send 
for it, a business engagement preventing his at- 
tendance at the hour set for the departure of 
Katharine and her mother. Katharine was 
more than willing to comply with this request, 
as well as with the more arduous one of hold- 
ing herself in readiness to accompany any 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 


79 


would-be tenant upon a tour of inspection of 
tlie premises. 

“ I shall do my best to secure a good and 
permanent occupant,” said the lawyer, but I 
really cannot give up my time to taking them 
over the house. I suppose I might send my 
office-boy, but if you could attend personally it 
would be much more satisfactory, as you can 
answer any question they might wish to ask. 
But I must warn you,” he added seriously, 

not to expect many applicants. It is a bad 
time of year to rent a house in the city. The 
fall is the season.” 

“ But we couldn’t afford to have it empty all 
summer ! ” cried Katharine in distress, “ we 
couldn’t possibly manage to pay the rent. You 
must get some one, please.” 

“ I’ll do the best I can,” he replied briefly 
and with the air of anticipating great personal 
sacrifices for their sake. 

He rose and took up his hat. 

‘‘Tell your mother for me that I trust she 
will bear her journey well to-morrow. I shall 
either call myself, or send for the key to-morrow 
eveninj^. And I shall make the most strenuous 
efforts to secure you a profitable tenant for the 


8o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


house. We will speak of the little matter of 
the paper some other time. Good morning.” 

He bowed and quitted the room, leaving 
Katharine in a state of very complex sensations. 

For the past half hour she had been convers- 
ing amicably with the man whom she had 
always regarded with disapproval and Avhom 
lately she had begun to dislike. She had felt 
the charm of his manner, subtle, intangible and 
strong. Yet at parting, his last words and the 
expressive glance that accompanied them had 
struck upon her heart with a cold shiver of 
dread — as one might be affected if a big, bril- 
liant purring tiger should suddenly show its 
teeth in an unexpected snarl. 

Her mind instinctively sought a hiding-place 
for the precious bundle she held clasped to her 
breast, and she hurried up-stairs to her own 
room. 

Gradually, however, the ill impression wore 
away. She felt that she had dramatically ex- 
aggerated the lawyer’s manner and she even 
smiled at her vague alarm. He was neither a 
thief nor a wizard, she told herself. 

The arrangement by which she was to ac- 
company any applicant who might wish to go 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 


over the house, was very satisfactory to Katha- 
rine. She had begged her mother to be allowed 
to keep the key of the house. She felt that it 
would prove a solace in hours of loneliness and 
homesickness to be able to slip into the silent 
house and roam through the empty rooms, liv- 
ing over the scenes of her happy childhood, and 
seeing again the things which were associated 
with her father’s memory. But Mrs. Allen had 
refused very decidedly. 

“ Mr. Griggs is my man of business,” she had 
said, and it is his place to take charge of the 
key. “ You would only forget all about it and 
probably end by losing it.” 

Katharine had not urged her plea. She was 
hurt by her mother’s lack of faith in her, but she 
saw the truth of Mrs. Allen’s words. Of 
course the lawyer was the proper person to be 
entrusted with the key. 

Now, by this present arrangement, she would 
have opportunities of revisiting the house oc- 
casionally. And it was very probable that Mr. 
Griggs would give her the key at any time she 
might choose to ask for it. 

Nevertheless, it was with a very heavy heart 
that she made a farewell tour of the different 
6 


82 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


rooms the next afternoon. Each of them held 
some endearing memory. The dining-room was 
the most difficult to relinquish. 

Katharine had left it to the last. Slowly 
turning the key in the lock, she went in and 
closed the door behind her. The room had not 
been entered since the day after her father’s 
funeral, two weeks before. A thin, faint coat- 
ing of dust covered everything. Katharine was 
dressed for departure, but she hastily removed 
her gloves, procured a cloth from the pantry, and 
vrith reverent, gentle fingers wiped each article 
of furniture. This task accomplished, she stood 
by the side of the table and looked about her, 
her eyes resting in a lingering farewell upon 
every dear, familiar object. The chair in which 
her father had always sat, was still in its place 
at the head of the table. Katharine touched 
it lovingly. A sudden impulse seized her to 
take the chair and store it away with the other 
mementoes of her father. But her common 
sense forbade. If it had been one of the dozen 
regular dining-room chairs she might have re- 
moved it on the chance of its absence being over- 
looked. But it was one of the two armchairs 
which completed the set and its disappearance 


CLOSING THE OLD HOME 


83 


would be marked. But she would not have 
others note the position of the chair and guess 
its former occupant. She lifted it and carried 
it across the room, where she placed it against 
the wall by the door. 

She turned to go, paused, hesitated an instant 
and then, as though obeying a sudden impulse 
she dropped to her knees in front of the chair, 
and, leaning her arms on the seat, buried her 
face in them. When she rose her cheeks were 
wet but her eyes shone with an expression of 
fortitude; courage to accept the past and face 
the future. 

Hearing the sounds of moving feet without, 
and Miss Coatlee’s voice calling her name, she 
caught up her gloves and quitted the room. 

With the hasty last glance about of a traveler 
quitting a train, to see that nothing has been 
left behind, she followed her mother and Miss 
Coatlee. Closing and locking the heavy front 
door behind her, she put the key in her pocket 
and slowly descended the steps to the waiting 
carriage. 


CHAPTEE IX 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 

It was a brilliant sunshiny day. The ground 
was thickly covered with snow, and on the less 
frequented streets, where heavy traffic had not 
broken away the crust, sleighs passed the car- 
riage on its way to the hospital, with a merry 
jangle of bells. In spite of her multitudinous 
wrappings Mrs. Allen declared herself freezing, 
and huddled back into a corner of the carriage, 
silent save for an occasional fretful exclamation 
when the gap of an intersecting street flashed 
the sun in her eyes. 

The carriage rolled swiftly and noiselessly on 
its rubber-tired wheels through the busy streets. 
There had been some thought of sending the 
hospital ambulance to convey the invalid, but 
Katharine had looked so terrified at the sugges- 
tion, and Mrs. Allen so annoyed, that the doc- 
tor abandoned the idea at its first stage. 

“ If I’m only fit to be carted about in an am- 
84 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 85 

bulance,” Mrs. Allen Lad said tearfully, “ then I 
might as well stay where I am until I’m taken 
away in my coffin ! No, I’ll go like a lady, in 
my own carriage. I’ve no doubt it will be the 
last time I shall ever ride in it,” she added 
gloomily. 

So into her own carriage she was lifted, laid 
back among pillows and covered over and en- 
folded with wraps and rugs. But her strength 
was nearly exhausted when they arrived, and 
Dr. James and Dr. Warren, who were in waiting, 
both attended her to her room. 

Katharine watched her mother being carried 
away without so much as a single backward 
glance in her direction, and then waited patiently 
in the little public reception-room until Dr. 
Warren returned to say that Mrs. Allen was 
already settled for the night and resting 
quietly. 

“ Then I mayn’t say good night to her ! ” she 
exclaimed with an odd little sinking of the 
heart. 

She had been growing more and more home- 
sick as she waited alone in the thickening dusk. 
It was melancholy to realize that she had no 
home to go back to. 


86 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


This feeling strengthened as she sat beside 
the doctor during the swift, silent drive to Dr. 
AVarren’s house. She had detained the carriage 
and now offered him a seat in it, he having sent 
his own man away upon an errand. She was 
going to visit friends who had always been gen- 
erously kind to her. Alice was passionately 
fond of her and had looked forward to her 
coming with extravagant delight. But it was so 
different from an ordinary visit. It was in 
reality a temporary home and that consciousness 
had the effect of setting her friends somewhat 
aloof in her mind, because no ties of blood held 
her to them. However close a friend may be — 
dearer mayhap than many a relative — still, it 
needs kinship to form a home. 

Not that Katharine realized this. She was 
not given to mature ponderings. She only knew 
that there was a great heavy weight on her 
heart, off which little pieces crumbled at inter- 
vals to choke her. She decided that she was 
tired and hungr^^ 

Mrs. AYarren and Alice were waiting to re- 
ceive her. Alice greeted her friend rapturously 
and bore her away almost immediately to the 
room which the two girls were to share. 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 87 

Katharine’s trunk had come in the morning 
and Mrs. Warren had had it unpacked, think- 
ing it would give Katharine a more homelike 
feeling to find her things laid out and waiting 
for her. 

Prompted by a hint from her mother, Alice 
made an excuse to leave Katharine alone after 
they were dressed for dinner. Hardly had she 
quitted the room when Katharine threw herself 
upon the bed and gave way to the grief and 
loneliness that had beset her all day. The out- 
burst was over in a moment but she felt the bet- 
ter for it. 

“ I mustn’t mope before people,” she told her- 
self bravely as she bathed away the traces of 
her tears. It would be both rude and selfish to 
sit about like a glum oyster when they are so kind 
to me here. I shall be as cheerful as possible 
and do my best to make Mrs. Warren feel glad 
that she invited me. It will be better for me 
too. I can do no good by crying and getting 
blue. But it is hard to think that mother is ill 
in a hospital and that we haven’t got any home,” 
she added, the deluge threatening a return. 
“ Just as soon as mother gets better. I’ll suggest 
to her that plan about our moving to Ohio. 


88 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


In the meantime I’ll see Mr. Griggs and find out 
more about that land of ours there.” 

This idea served to divert her thoughts from 
her sorrow, and the hope of future action made 
her brave and cheerful again. 

When she went down to dinner there was 
nothing to suggest her attack of homesickness 
except a pair of reddened eyelids, of Avhich no 
one took the slightest notice. She entered into 
the conversation with interest and animation, 
falling in readily with Alice’s spirit of fun. Yet 
her manner did not seem that of a child thought- 
less of sorrow. Rather, she impressed the doc- 
tor’s wife as one in deep trouble, but controlling 
her feelings out of consideration for those about 
her. Mrs. Warren’s heart warmed toward her. 

“ How old are you, my dear ? ” she asked 
Katharine abruptly, at a pause in the conversa- 
tion. 

“ I’ll be sixteen next month,” answered Katha- 
rine. 

Why, you are younger than Alice ! She 
was sixteen last August,” exclaimed Mrs. War- 
ren in surprise, and she admired more than ever 
the girl’s splendid courage and self-restraint. 

While they were still at the table the front- 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 89 

door bell rang and when Katharine and Alice 
went into the drawing-room, they found Jim 
Griggs sitting there, waiting for them. Katha- 
rine guessed the errand on which he had come 
and her heart sank. His father had no doubt 
sent him for the house-key and she knew that 
now she must give up the last link that held her 
to the old life. She shook hands with Jim and 
then her hand sought the key in her pocket and 
held it til ere, tight-clasped, during the whole of 
his short call. 

“ How do you do ? ” said Jim, rising and 
shaking hands with each in turn. He put a 
volume of friendly cheeriness into the common- 
place greeting. “ Isn’t it a jolly night ! I wish 
we could all go out for a sleigh-ride.” 

“ Oh, how I wish we might ! ” cried Alice, 
her eyes sparkling. “ But it’s a school night 
and I have my lessons.” 

‘‘ So have I,” responded Jim, ‘‘ but I’d like to 
play hookey, the night is so splendid, all crisp 
and shining. But don’t forget that we’re all to 
go skating on Saturday. “ I’m pretty sure the 
ice’ll hold. Let’s get a good early start before 
the crowd.” 

A few more remarks were exchanged and 


90 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


then Jim rose to go, knowing that he was 
keeping Alice from her books. 

“ Father said you’d have a key to send him,” 
he said to Katharine, suddenly remembering the 
reason for his call. 

“Yes,” she replied, “I have it here.” 

She withdrew her hand slowly, reluctantly, 
and unclasping her fingers, held the key out to 
him. Jim took it unconcernedly and slipped 
it into his own jacket pocket. 

“Thanks. I’m awfully sorry you’ve given 
up your house,” he said, “ but you’re almost as 
much in the neighborhood here, and I expect 
you two’ll be having some first-rate larks 
together.” 

“ Won’t we just ! ” exclaimed Alice, slipping 
an arm around her friend’s waist. “ It will be 
almost better than having a sister.” 

Katharine’s sore heart was comforted by 
these affectionate words. 

“ Come,” she said energetically as the door 
closed on Jim. “ Let’s get settled at our books. 
You’ve so many things to show me.” 

“ Oh, you dear girl, are you going to school 
to-morrow ? ” 

“ No,” said Katharine quickly, “ I shan’t go 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 91 

till Monday, as I’d planned. I don’t want to 
start in until I know that mother is all right at 
the hospital and has gotten used to it there. But 
I may as well begin making up back lessons at 
once.” 

She spent a busy evening, with no chance for 
sad thoughts, and resolved to give up every 
moment that was not spent with her mother to 
her books. She wished to return to her classes 
on Monday as far advanced in her work as 
possible. 

The following morning, acting upon her 
husband’s instructions, Mrs. Warren detained 
Katharine from starting to the hospital, by one 
excuse and another, until after eleven o’clock. 
Then she accompanied her, with an inward 
trepidation that she found it hard to keep out 
of her voice and manner. 

But Katharine was entirely unsuspicious. 
W' hen they arrived at the hospital, the doctor’s 
beaming face was such an assurance of good 
news that Katharine found her rejoicings over 
the outcome quite swallowing up the shock 
she had momentarily felt upon learning of the 
operation which had been already performed 
with unqualified good results. 


92 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


But Mrs. Allen was sleeping and must not 
be disturbed. 

You may come back at four o’clock,” the 
doctor promised her. “ So run away now and 
amuse yourself, and remember that there is 
less to worry about than there was yester- 
day.” 

He gave his wife a significant glance as he 
bade them good-by. Katharine was already 
feeling the reaction of her relief, and the reali- 
zation that her mother’s life had been in danger 
sank upon her heart with a leaden weight. 
Mrs. Warren read the meaning of the white 
face and dilated eyes. 

“ Come,” she said gaily. ‘‘ Let us go off on 
a little spree together. I’ve some shopping to 
do, and we’ll lunch downtown and go to the 
Art Museum afterwards. How would you like 
that ? ” 

“ It would be very nice,” replied Katharine 
politely, trying to appear interested. 

She would much rather have returned to the 
Warren home and spent the rest of the day 
alone in her own room. But that was just 
what Mrs. Warren wished to prevent. They 
took a car down to Marshall Field’s, and Kath- 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 93 

arine followed her hostess from counter to 
counter, carrying packages, waiting for change, 
and making herself useful in as many ways as 
she could. 

At length Mrs. Warren’s list took her to the 
veiling counter, where Katharine offered to 
wait for the package and rejoin Mrs. Warren 
in another part of the store. She watched the 
constant stream of women flowing by ; old 
ladies and young girls ; matrons and spinsters ; 
tall women and short ; stout and lean ; women 
in a hurry and women just looking about. It 
was an excellent opportunity for character 
study, but Katharine’s thoughts were not 
upon the changing scene before her. She 
was dwelling upon her own troubles, and 
thinking with downcast heart of the dreary 
future ahead. 

- Presently a girl detached herself from the 
moving crowd and approached the counter 
where Katharine was standing. She was a young 
girl — not much older than Katharine herself, 
but her face was pale and care-lined, her figure 
bent and stooped like that of an old woman, 
and, where the holes in the black cotton gloves 
exposed the fingers, they showed calloused and 


94 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


toil-worn. She was miserably clad in a thin 
skirt and coat of shabby black and she looked 
pinched and cold. She carried a coarse, black- 
bordered handkerchief tightly clasped in her 
hand. One corner of the handkerchief was 
knotted and evidently contained money. Kath- 
arine watched her compassionately and heard 
her, with some surprise, ask to look at crape 
veils. 

The clerk obligingly got down all her stock 
of crape veilings, pushing the cheapest across 
toward the girl, who asked its price in a tense 
voice, fingering the rich material covetously. 
She started at the amount stated, hesitated a 
moment and then, with a scarcely audible, 
“ Thank you, ma’am,” she turned away. 

Katharine’s keen glance detected the tears 
glittering on her lids, and obeying a sudden im- 
pulse, moved quickly after her. The girl was 
walking with bent head, gulping down her sobs. 
Her disappointment was deep. Katharine 
touched her timidly on the arm. 

“ Excuse me, I heard you just now,” she said 
in a low voice. “The crape veil, did you want 
it very much ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, so much ! ” cried the girl with a 


KATHARINE VISITS ALICE WARREN 95 

ring of anguish in her tone. “It is for my 
mother. She is sick — so sick that this disap- 
pointment may kill her. She had set her heart 
on having that veil to wear to my father’s 
funeral. She made me take the money that 
was saved for her medicine, to buy it.” 

The girl spoke in a high, tense voice, made 
shrill by her restrained tears. Katharine was 
shocked at the pitiful story revealed by her few 
words, and the similarity it bore, in a superla- 
tively worse degree, to her own trouble. 

How selfish she had been to mope over her 
own misfortunes, when there were so many peo- 
ple in the world more wretched ! Her hand 
sought her pocket. 

“ I haven’t got very much money,” she said 
earnestly, “ but there’s enough to buy the veil 
and you can get your mother’s medicine too. 
Come.” 

Her tone was so sincere and her manner so 
free from the suggestion of alms-giving, that the 
girl accepted her offer without a question. 

After seeing her off with the precious package 
pressed close to her breast, Katharine went in 
search of Mrs. Warren. There were tears in 
her eyes now, but they were of very a different 


96 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY. 


sort from those she had been tempted to shed 
earlier in the day. 

It was a simple, everyday incident that had 
occurred, but Katharine learned a great lesson 
from it. 


CHAPTER X 


A TOUR OF INSPECTION 

Mr. Griggs had left the Allen house, after 
his interv^iew with Katharine in anything but a 
pleasant frame of mind. The first move in the 
great game he was about to play had been 
checked, and by a girl in her teens. He had 
laid his plans very carefully, after the manner 
of a player at chess, setting out his pieces. 

On the day following Mr. Allen’s death, the 
lawyer had gone to that gentleman’s ofiice and, 
with the widow’s full authorization, had looked 
over and sorted his late client’s papers. Those 
he deemed worthless were destroyed ; the legal 
documents and receipts were put in the bank 
and the few personal letters sent to Mrs. 
Allen. Mr. Griggs was most zealous in the per- 
formance of this duty and left not a scrap of 
paper unexamined. Indeed an observant on- 
looker might have suspected an ulterior motive, 
as in fact there w^as. The lawyer was searching 
7 97 


98 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

for a document wbicli so far lie bad failed to find. 
He had looked calmly at first, never doubting 
that the paper would appear, carelessly docketed 
with receipted bills or other unimportant docu- 
ments. For Mr. Griggs was not only aware that 
Gordon Allen had been a most unsystematic 
man, but also that he had held the missing 
paper at an extremely cheap value. 

But when, after an exhaustive search, the 
document was still unaccounted for, he began 
to grow apprehensive. His investigation pro- 
ceeded less systematically. He tore the differ- 
ent packages apart wuth restless, impatient 
fingers ; he scanned with keen eyes those letters 
already set aside, and opened and emptied 
drawers in a vain hope that a part of their con- 
tents had escaped his notice. But he could not 
find that for which he searched. 

Then, to his mingled surprise and relief, he 
perceived the document securely reposing in 
Katharine Allen’s own hands. Yet, save that 
he knew the paper had not been destroyed, he 
was no better off. Katharine flatly refused to 
yield her possession of it, and for the present 
he had no means of compelling her. She had 
justice on her side inasmuch as the document 


A TOUR OF INSPECTION 


99 

was inscribed to her in her father’s handwrit- 
ing. That the gift had not been intended until 
the expiration of another two years signified 
little to the girl. Of course she would not 
think of examining the contents of the envelope. 
The seal would remain as safely unbroken as if 
it had rested for those next two years within 
her father’s desk. Mr. Allen had died before 
the date upon which he had intended to make 
her this gift, but she would guard it herself 
until that time. She neither cared for nor 
thought of the contents. What did it matter 
what the gift was that her father had designed 
for her, so long as he had considered her future 
happiness at alii she was willing to wait until 
the right time for knowing the contents of the 
envelope, but its guardianship she would yield 
to none. 

And so Mr. Griggs received his first rebuff. 
It had been planned out very carefully, this 
figurative game of chess — to the disposition in- 
deed, of the queen herself. For the lawyer 
possessed a peculiar power over the nervous, 
wavering will of Mrs. Allen, a power which 
attracted by its own influence. 

His thoughts as he quitted the house were 


Lc^O. 


100 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


angry. He chafed at his impotence. But after 
a time, when the chagrin over his failure had 
faded, his reason reasserted itself. He realized 
that there was no need of haste and that, ac- 
cording to ancient tradition, those who wait are 
always rewarded. He could aiford to be pa- 
tient. 

But another step he decided upon. After 
his late client’s will had been read and he had 
assisted Mrs. Allen to complete her arrange- 
ments for leaving her old home, Mr. Griggs 
quitted his office early one afternoon, and tell- 
ing the office-boy that he would be away for 
several days on business, he went to his hand- 
some house on Dearborn Avenue and made a 
few hasty preparations for a short journey. 

When Jim came home from school and was 
told that his father had left town on business 
he thought nothing of it, being accustomed to 
these frequent trips. 

Mr. Griggs’ choice of transportation was 
curious. He arrived at the station in time to 
take an east-bound express which would have 
borne him speedily to his destination. But he 
did not board this train. Instead he found a 
seat in the smoker of a dingy, untidy accommoda- 


A TOUR OF INSPECTION loi 

tion which presently lumbered slowly out upon 
the tracks that led away from the afternoon sun. 
He had expected to have a seat to himself and 
was vexed to find the car nearly full and no 
whole seat vacant. He sat down beside a 
genial-looking old man and lighted a cigar. He 
opened the evening paper, hoping to while away 
the dragging minutes. 

“Weather report ain’t favorable,” suddenly 
exclaimed a serene voice at his elbow, and Mr. 
Griggs looked up to see that his neighbor was 
calmly scanning the journal over his shoulder. 
The old man smiled benignly when he caught 
his eye. “ Winter’s holdin’ on,” he remarked 
cheerfully, with the manner of opening a long 
argument. 

“ Yes,” replied the lawyer in a tone of finality, 
and shifted his position. 

The farmer failed to take this hint. 

“ You don’t seem very comfortable,” he com- 
mented sympathetically. 

“ Guess you’re used to parlor cars ’nd sech. 
Hope y’aint had reverses. Or mebbe them 
swell expresses don’t stop at where you’re goin ’ ? 
Be takin’ a long journey ? ” 

But Mr. Griggs was deep in his paper and 


102 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


apparently had not heard this speech. The 
farmer took out his pipe, filled it from a shabby 
pouch and asked cheerfully for a light. The 
lawyer could not ignore this direct request and 
proffered his glowing cigar — ungraciously. The 
close, overheated air, foul with the odor of cheap 
tobacco smoke was revolting. He was thank- 
ful when the station was reached where he was 
to make his first change. 

His mysterious journey necessitated frequent 
changes of train, but by none of them did he 
benefit as to personal comfort. At the station 
restaurant of the last large town at which he 
expected to stop, Mr. Griggs partook of a hearty 
supper, purchased a small hamper of sand- 
wiches and cold chicken and then repaired to 
the waiting-room. 

When he reappeared on the platform he was 
almost unrecognizable. A shabby black over- 
coat and a broad-brimmed felt hat, slouched 
over the eyes, altered the whole appearance of 
his usual trim figure. The train upon which 
he now traveled consisted of a single weather- 
stained passenger-coach attached to a freight 
train, which bumped and crawled over the tracks 
with frequent long and apparently unnecessary 


A TOUR OF INSPECTION 103 

stops. Mr. Griggs left his seat presently, in the 
heated, unventilated car and joined the brake- 
man on the platform. 

Night had now fallen and there was little to 
be seen save the occasional red and green glimmer 
of a signal light as an isolated railroad crossing 
was passed. 

“ Cold for this time of year,” observed the 
brakeman. 

Mr. Griggs smiled as he wondered mentally 
if there was an unwritten law that decreed 
opening conversations with the weather. He 
agreed emphatically as to the cold, buttoning 
his coat well up about the throat. 

‘‘ Rather flat country about here,” he observed 
after a pause. “ What are the chief products ? 
Is the farming good ? ” 

The brakeman, who was the son of a farmer, 
entered into a long discussion upon the hard- 
ships of countrymen. Mr. Griggs listened with 
forced interest. The moon rose presently and 
exposed, in a cold, pale light the flat, monotonous 
stretches of field, snow-covered, with here and 
there a black patch of bare ground. In nearly 
every instance these snow-cleared pieces were 
occupied by high, gaunt derricks that stretched 


104 


HER EATHER^S LEGACY 


upward to a seemingly indefinite lieiglit in tlie 
delusive glimmer of the moon. The derricks in- 
creased in number as the train proceeded, and 
Mr. Griggs’ eyes glittered with satisfaction. 

“ Looks as if they’d struck oil about here,” he 
observed, pointing to a derrick. 

“Yes, they’ve struck it rich all through these 
parts,” replied the brakeman enthusiastically. 
“ There was a well opened up t’other day, ’bout 
fifty miles north o’ here, ’t sold for twelve 
thousand dollars ! How’s that for a quick 
fortune ? ” 

The pleasure in Mr. Griggs’ eyes broadened. 

“Pity the man sold it,” he said. “With a 
little time and some outlay of money the well 
might have yielded him that many thousand a 
year.” 

“ What — you don’t mean it ! ” ejaculated the 
brakeman. “ Is oil really as valuable as that ? 
Well, I’m surprised ! ” 

Mr. Griggs smiled openly at this frank ad- 
mission and being in high good humor conde- 
scended to fill the brakeman’s cup of astonishment 
by relating marvelous tales of fortunes gained 
from the production of petroleum. Growing 
absorbed in his subject, for the topic of money- 


A TOUR OF INSPECTION 


105 


making had always an alluring charm for the 
lawyer, he failed to notice the landscape. He 
was dismayed to find, upon looking around, 
that the ungainly derricks had ceased to block 
the view. 

“ Oh, that’s all right,” the brakeman assured 
him. “ You see we’re getting near to Amsden, 
where the fever ain’t struck yet.” 

“That is where I am going,” replied Mr. 
Griggs, unintentionally betraying the destina- 
tion of his journey in his anxiety. “ Haven’t 
the people about Amsden had curiosity enough 
to test for oil there ? ” 

“ Oh, I guess the oil’s there all right enough,” 
declared the brakeman confidently, “ only there 
ain’t such a lot of money floatin’ about idle for 
people to sink into the ground — not even, with 
the hope of gettin’ a lot more out.” 

“Ah, I see,” said Mr. Griggs. “You mean 
that they can’t afford the expense of testing,” 
and he fell into a reverie that lasted until the 
end of his journey. 


CHAPTER XI 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW 

The night was half gone when the train drew 
up beside the station of a tiny hamlet, sleeping 
in the moonlight. The lawyer put on a pair of 
warm fur gloves, took up his satchel and left 
the train. The hospitable brakeman called after 
him concerning the whereabouts of the hotel and 
then went forward to confide to the engineer 
his belief that their solitary passenger was out 
prospecting for oil. 

“ Queer way of goin’ about it,” commented 
the engineer grufily. “ I hope he ain’t meanin’ 
to do his prospectin’ on other people’s land.” 

“ Oh, I guess not,” replied the brakemen care- 
lessly. “He ’peared straight enough. Mebbe 
he wants to set ’bout it a little quiet like, so’s 
not to raise folks’s ideas, ’nd lead ’em to put up 
the price of their ground. I don’t see nothin’ 
onfair in that.” 

In the meantime Mr. Griggs was making his 

io6 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW 107 


way rapidly down the straggling village street. 
At a certain point he paused, hesitated for an 
instant and then turned down a side road. This 
road — or properly speaking lane, for it was 
narrow and winding — ^was so choked up with 
unbroken snow-drifts as to be at times almost 
indistinguishable from the fields that adjoined 
it on either side. 

When he had walked nearly a mile Mr. 
Griggs stopped, looked about him in the wan- 
ing moonlight and then entered a narrow drive- 
way, the gate to which hung loosely on its 
broken hinges and creaked dolefully in the 
night wind. A good-sized, two-storied house 
stood at the end of the driveway. It was a 
pleasant-looking place in spite of its dingy ex- 
terior. A few repairs and a fresh coat of paint 
would easily render it habitable and homelike. 

The lawyer advanced a step or two. But 
the accumulated drifts of the whole winter 
made the path impassable so that he was forced 
to be content with making his observations from 
a distance. 

“ I don’t think I’d care to live in it myself,” 
he reflected, “ but at a moderate cost it could be 
fitted up comfortably as an overseer’s house. I 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


io8 

could hardly fancy Mrs. Allen accepting it as 
an abiding place,” and he smiled to himself 
somewhat grimly. “ I wonder how soon it will 
be possible to commence the testing,” he added, 
looking about him. 

But the raw March air did not invite linger- 
ing and the lawyer soon turned and retraced his 
steps to the village. Making his way to the 
hotel he pounded upon the door until he suc- 
ceeded in waking the astonished landlord, who 
never had a guest apply for admission at that 
hour, and who presently came shivering down 
to open the door and demand his business. 

Ignoring the man’s suspicious glances, Mr. 
Grriggs entered, shook the snow otf his coat 
and stamped his feet, then crossed the room 
to an open stove that stood glowing in the 
corner. 

“ I want the best room in the house,” he de- 
manded coolly, “ and plenty of blankets, for I 
suppose it is too late to have a fire made.” 

“ Too late ? Well, 1 guess so ! ” ejaculated 
the disgusted host. “ It’s most time for honest 
bodies to be gettin’ up, instead o’ just goin’ to 
bed.” 

Mr. Griggs frowned and was about to retoid 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW 109 

angrily, but he controlled himself and said pleas- 
antly, though with a visible effort : 

“ IVe just come by the train and am tired. 
But I don’t need much sleep, and you can count 
on my prompt appearance at breakfast. Now 
show me my room and I will not keep you up 
any longer.” 

The train must have been powerful late,” 
muttered the landlord, shuffling up the stairs in 
advance and holding his single lighted candle 
aloft so that the lawyer might see his way. 
“Here’s a room that’s as good as any we’ve 
got — ’nd good enough f’r any man,” and he 
threw open a door. 

The room was bare and barn-like, but it would 
serve for a few hours’ rest. Mr. Griggs ex- 
pressed his thanks and thrust a five-dollar note 
into his host’s hand “ for payment in advance ” 
he said, which entirely soothed that sleepy old 
man’s suspicions, and he shuffled off with an 
affable good night. 

True to his statement the lawyer was astir 
early the next morning, and made his appear- 
ance in the dining-room even before the great 
cracked bell had sounded which summoned the 
few guests to their meals. Mr. Griggs partook 


no 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


of a hasty breakfast and quitted the hotel. Leav- 
ing his satchel at the station he proceeded a 
short distance up the village street and entered 
a gate, hanging upon the post of which a large 
sign informed the public that Philemon T. 
Smith, lawyer, notary, justice of the peace and 
real estate agent — in short the sole professional 
man in the town — dwelt within. 

Philemon was sleepily pushing open the 
shutters of his office window — a diminutive, 
one-roomed building in the side yard of his 
mother’s house — when he was astonished to re- 
ceive an early visitor, a tall, dark-visaged man, 
muffied up to the ears and down to the nose in 
great-coat and broad-brimmed felt hat. He an- 
nounced that he was come in the interests of 
Mr. Griggs, a lawyer in Chicago, who wished 
some further information concerning a piece of 
property he had just purchased. 

“ Oh, I guess you mean Mr. Allen’s land,” ob- 
served the artless Philemon seating himself at 
a roll-top desk in the corner and unlock- 
ing a drawer. “ I didn’t know it had been 
sold. There ain’t any record of it been sent 
to me.” 

Taking out a large, heavy book he ran his 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW in 


finger down the pages and paused at a certain 
line. 

“Yes, Allen’s the name of the man who sold 
Mr. Griggs the property,” said his visitor suavely. 
“ And I have come to see you in Mr. Griggs’ 
behalf about the deeds.” 

“ Have you got a letter from Mr. Allen ? ” 

“ Mr. Allen is dead ; was killed in an accident 
— a very sad affair. I — that is, Mr. Griggs, was 
his lawyer. The sale was completed between 
them on the morning of Mr. Allen’s death. He 
was to return the following day to sign the 
papers.” 

“Mr. Allen dead. Well, well, I’m sorry to 
hear that,” said Philemon, with as much sym- 
pathy as it was possible to express for a man 
whom he had never seen. 

“ You see it makes it a little awkward for — 
for Mr. Griggs,” went on that gentleman quickly, 
“ he having only a verbal agreement from his 
client as to the sale. Naturally, as things stood, 
the land went, with all the other property, to 
the widow.” 

“ Naturally,” echoed Philemon, eager to show 
his knowledge of legal matters. 

“ As soon as Mrs. Allen can be told the cir- 


1 12 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

cumstances she will of course sign this deed of 
sale, as it was her husband’s intention to do. 
At present she is too ill, overcome by the shock 
of Mr. Allen’s tragic death, to be approached 
with business concerns. What Mr. Griggs wishes 
is permission to treat the land as his own until 
the triviality of legal possession has been cor- 
rected.” 

“ Why, I should think that it could be managed 
easily enough,” said Philemon slowly, not quite 
grasping the other’s meaning. “ What does he 
want to do ? ” 

“He wishes to test the land for oil,” an- 
swered the other, so promptly that Philemon 
started and looked up. 

The lawyer was eyeing him keenly, but the 
country agent’s vacant stare revealed no suspi- 
cion and only a little surprise. 

“It costs money to test for oil,” he commented 
stupidly. 

“ Mr. Griggs has the money,” replied the 
lawyer rising, “ and he wants to begin the test- 
ing at the earliest possible moment. How soon 
do you think that can be ? ” 

“ Soon as the snow clears a bit. In about two 
or three weeks, I guess,” answered Philemon, 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW 113 

“ Very well. Mr. Griggs will put himself into 
communication with you at once,” said his caller 
moving toward the door. “ Remember, the sign- 
ing of the deed is only a form to be gone through 
with as soon as the widow recovers from her 
illness.” 

As he spoke the lawyer opened the door, 
paused an instant on the threshold and then 
turned. 

The taxes — I suppose Mr. Allen paid them 
regularly ? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, yes, regular as clock-work,” replied Phil- 
emon cheerfully. 

Mr. Griggs’ face fell but he said quietly : 

“ Then — ah — Mr. Griggs will get it unencum- 
bered. Thank you. Good-by.” 

If the lawyer had entertained a secret hope 
that his late client had neglected to pay the taxes 
on the land, because of its worthlessness, and 
in that way he might buy it in at a lower price, 
he was to be disappointed. Still, he felt the prize 
to be worth almost any cost, and he was prepared 
to pay whatever he must. 

Having learned all that could be obtained 
from the not over-intelligent Philemon, and hav- 
ing moreover assured himself that his operations 
8 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


1 14 

in Amsden would be allowed to proceed without 
question, Mr. Griggs took the first train north- 
ward to Erie. There, again clothed in his cus- 
tomary immaculate raiment, he spent the after- 
noon and night, concluded on the following day 
the trifling matter of business which was his given 
reason for being there, and took a comfortable, 
well-appointed train back to Chicago. 

It was late Saturday evening when Mr. Griggs 
reached home, having remained down town at 
his club to dine. There he discussed the busi- 
ness which he had completed in Erie and the 
men he had met there. But none of his friends 
guessed at that other trip, that clandestine visit 
to Amsden. 

He let himself into his house with a latch-key 
and going to the library, rang for the maid. 
When she answered his summons she was the 
bearer of news. 

“Master Jim was near to bein’ drowned in 
the Park lake this mornin’, ” she said. “ It was 
Miss Kate Allen what saved him. An’ he come 
home all blue with a chill like. I put him to bed 
with a hot herb tea an’ was for sendin’ after the 
doctor, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He ’peared 
all right this evenin’, an’ eat a hearty supper, I 


AN EARLY MORNING INTERVIEW iig 

was just up to his room, an’ he’s sleepin’ like a 
lamb, with never a sign of a cold.” 

Mr. Griggs listened to this recital with mingled 
feelings. He hurried up-stairs and tip-toed softly 
into his son’s room. The boy stirred as a shaft 
of light from the gas-jet in the hall ^vithout pene- 
trated the darkness, and his father retreated has- 
tily^ closing the door again gently behind him. 

“ I am thankful that no worse accident befell 
him,” he reflected, with a sudden odd sinking of 
the heart at memory of his son’s danger, “ but I 
should have liked it better if some one else had 
helped him out.” 

And the lawyer frowned. He did not relish 
the sensation of being under obligations to Kath- 
arine Allen — not at present. 


CHAPTEE XII 


THIN ICE 

Saturday morning dawned clear and cold. 
There had been a slight thaw on the day be- 
fore, but Jim was sure that no harm had been 
done to the ice, and the three friends started off 
for Lincoln Park in high spirits. 

“ The ice may have melted a little on the top 
yesterday,” Jim explained, “ but it froze again 
last night as tight as a drum. I’m glad we got 
an early start though, for I expect the ice will 
get all slushy and soft by noon. It’s beastly, 
when its like that.” 

“Isn’t it?” agreed Alice. “You skate 
smoothly along, feeling as though you were fly- 
ing and having a fine time, when suddenly your 
skate squashes into a little rut and down you 
go, heels over head, seeing stars and all sorts of 
flashing things.” 

“ Doesn’t it seem to you that the skating has 
lasted very late this year ? ” asked Katharine. 


THIN ICE 117 

I can’t remember ever having it at the begin- 
ing of March.” 

“ Yes, it is late for it,” admitted Jim. “But 
I’m jolly glad we’ve got it. There wasn’t any 
at all to speak of until after Christmas.” 

They had reached the park by this time and 
hastened across a plat of common to the lake. 
They were surprised to find so few people 
there, even at this early hour. 

“Well, it’s all the better, I think,” said Jim. 
“ I hate to skate when I’ve got to keep elbow- 
ing my way about all the time.” 

“You shouldn’t ‘elbow your way about.’ It 
isn’t gentlemanly,” rebuked Alice with mock 
severity, her brown eyes dancing with mischief. 

“ If all the girls were Alice Warren, I wouldn’t 
elbow my way. I shouldn’t want to get past 
at all,” retorted Jim with a bald gallantry that 
made Alice blush. 

“ There ! Isn’t that heaping coals of fire ! 
Make him your best bow, Alice. That speech 
was worthy of — of — who was the leader of 
good manners ? Oh, yes. Chesterfield.” 

“I think you mean Beau Brummel, Kathie. 
But how can I make a bow with my skates on.” 
Alice essayed the difficult feat and measured 


Ii8 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

her length on the ice. A faint but pronounced 
cracking sound responded to the shock of her 
fall. 

“ Oh,” she cried in alarm, scrambling to her 
feet, “ the ice is giving way ! ” 

“ Oh no,” explained Jim. “That’s a sign it’s 
good and thick. Thick ice is always creaky.” 

“Are you hurt, Alice? You went down 
rather hard,” said Katharine anxiously. 

“Not a bit) thanks. Jim, I hope you are 
impressed with my appreciation of your com- 
pliment. I was quite overcome by it.” 

They all laughed merrily at this speech and 
Jim, after a final tug at an obstinate strap, 
stood up and pronounced himself ready. 

“ Why, I say, it is rather odd there’s nobody 
about ! ” he exclaimed wonderingly, looking 
round. 

The pond was seemingly deserted. No one 
could be seen approaching by any of the numer- 
ous paths and the two or three whom they 
had noticed on the opposite shore when they 
arrived, were gone. 

“ Maybe the thaw did more damage yesterday 
than I thought,” he said dubiously. 

He realized that he was responsible for the 


THIN ICE 


119 

safety of the two girls and did not wish to take 
any risk. He could not bear to think of losing 
his morning’s sport. Yet, if the skating were 
good, the lake would surely have been crowded 
at this hour of a Saturday. 

‘‘I wonder if the ice has been tested and 
found unsafe,” he thought. Then there ought 
to be a policeman here to warn people. Per- 
haps they posted it at the entrance. We’d 
have missed that by cutting across.” 

While he was thus debating the question in 
his mind, the two girls were skating up and 
down near by, trying to learn the backward 
stroke. They reeled and slipped and caught 
themselves, with little shrieks and bursts of 
merriment. 

“ Come on, Jim,” they cried now. “ What 
are you waiting for? Isn’t that strap right 
yet ? ” 

“Yes, the strap’s right enough,” he answered, 
skating up to them. “ I was wondering where 
all the crowd is.” 

As he spoke, he perceived a thin, sinuous 
streak dart along below the surface of the ice 
near by, leaving a dark, needle- wide mark, like 
the trail of a snail, and as his approach added 


120 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


his weight to that of the two girls, the creaking 
crackling sound was heard again, a trifle louder 
this time. Jim thought the signs bad. 

“ I tell you, girls,” he said. “ You wait here 
while I skate out to the middle and see if it’s 
all right. I’m not so sure as I was.” 

“ It seems right enough here,” they urged. 

I know, but I’d rather be on the safe side. 
Besides, if the skating’s all right, it’s high time 
the crowd was beginning to come. There isn’t 
another soul except us,‘ on the lake.” 

Perhaps they’re all down at the other end,” 
suggested Katharine, as unwilling as Jim to 
lose her fun. 

“ It may be, but I’ll go ahead just the same. 
You watch, and if it’s all right. I’ll wave and 
you can come on.” 

He turned as he spoke and made his way, 
with slow, cautious strokes, toward the middle 
of the pond. The ice cracked and snapped all 
about him, and as he advanced he felt a slight 
sinking, as if the whole sheet of frozen water 
were dropping. 

Convinced of the unsoundness of the ice, he 
wheeled to go back to the shore when suddenly 
a deep crack widened at his feet, yawned with 


THIN ICE 


121 


an ominous splitting sound until the dark water 
beneath was revealed, and Jim threw up his 
arms and went down. 

It had all happened so quickly, so unex- 
pectedly, that the two girls by the shore were 
for a moment paralyzed with fear. They stood 
staring with horrified gaze toward the dark 
splotch before them, ever widening as the blocks 
of broken ice spread away from the center of 
the lake. Then, simultaneously, they broke 
into a cry. 

Alice buried her face in her hands and be- 
gan to sob nervously, shrieking that Jim was 
drowned. But Katharine’s cry was of relief. 
She had detected a blacker blotch on the dark 
expanse and realized that there was hope. 

“ Hush, Alice ! ” she exclaimed peremptorily. 
“ Jim’s not drowned. He’s hanging on to the 
ice. You run for help. Bring back the first 
policeman you find and hurry like the wind. 
Go toward the Lake Shore. There are gener 
ally more there.” 

As she gave these hasty directions Katharine 
had been pulling off her skates. Catching up 
Jim’s hockey stick she began to move toward 
the center of the pond, walking slowly and to 


122 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


the left of the course that Jim had taken. Alice, 
her alarm freshly aroused by this manoeuvre on 
Katharine’s part, stopped in the process of un- 
strapping her skates to clasp her hands in 
anguish. 

“ Oh, Kathie, don’t, don’t go ! You will be 
drowned too, and then, oh, what shall I do ! ” 
and she began to sob again. 

Katharine turned impatiently. 

“ Oh, don’t cry, Alice. There’s no time for 
that now. And oh, why can’t you hurry ! 
You ought to have been back with a policeman 
by this time ! ” 

As she spoke she had come hastily to the 
bank where Alice was seated. She assisted the 
trembling fingers to loosen the straps and 
helped the frightened, excited girl to her feet. 

“Don’t scold, Kathie,” pleaded Alice pite- 
ously. “ I’m trying to hurry, but I shake so.” 

“ There, I’m sorry. Run now,” said Katha- 
rine kindly. “ Go down the nearest path 
until you meet a policeman,” she commanded. 
“ Make him understand that some one is to be 
saved at the lake and that he’s to bring a long 
bar of some sort with him. Now, run ! ” 

Waiting this time to see Alice well started, 


THIN ICE 


123 


Katharine turned and made her way as swiftly 
as she dared toward the blocks of floating ice. 

In the meantime, Jim had not fared quite so 
badly as the girls feared. Feeling the ice give 
way beneath him, he had flung himself forward, 
and now lay clinging to the crust on the land side. 
The upper part of his body was on the ice, only 
his legs hanging in the water. But he felt him- 
self momentarily slipping back, and there was 
nothing upon the smooth surface of the ice, no 
protuberance which he could grasp to keep his 
hold. By moving his legs gently in something 
the motion of a swimmer, he held his breast 
against the block of ice and so lessened in a 
degree the tendency to slip. 

But it was with a feeling of unspeakable relief 
that he perceived Katharine coming to his aid. 

“ All right, Kate,” he shouted encouragingly 
as she approached. “ Don’t be in too much of 
a huriy and keep well to that side. I can pull 
myself out easily if you can manage to reach 
me that stick.” 

He watched her progress towards him with 
admiring eyes. She walked with long, free 
steps acting with instant judgment upon her 
course. She was soon near enough to Jim to be 


124 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


within his reach with the stick. Carefully 
testing the ice to make sure that it was strong 
enough, she gently lowered herself to her knees, 
then, extending her length along the glassy 
expanse, stretched out the short thick stick 
with its curved end towards Jim. 

I can hold the straight end better than you,’’ 
she called. “ My hands aren’t so cold and my 
gloves will give me a better grip.” 

He nodded, and cautiously loosening one red, 
bare hand from its clinging, shifting hold upon 
the ice, he thrust out the length of his arm and 
with a quick, broken sigh of relief, grasped the 
stick. 

“ Now,” he said. “ Can you hold me ? Steady, 
then.” 

Throwing his weight on the stick he rested 
the elbow of his other arm on the edge of the 
ice and, after one or two failures, threw one leg 
over the side and drew himself up. 

Katharine clung to her end of the club with 
both clenched hands. It was a fearful strain, 
and in spite of her resistance she was conscious 
of sliding forward, pulled by the jerks of Jim’s 
movements. 

The ice cracked threateningly as it received 


THIN ICE 


125 


Jim’s weight aDd another block at the edge 
split oft*. As soon as she could loosen her grip 
Katharine got upon her knees and crept back- 
ward to increase the distance between Jim and 
herself until the more solid ice near shore was 
reached. Then Jim ran up to her, all wet and 
shivering. 

“ Oh, I say, Kate, you’re a hero, a downright 
hero ! ” he cried admiringly. “ Why, a boy 
couldn’t have behaved better ! ” and having 
paid her the highest compliment at his command, 
he shook her heartily by the hand. 

‘‘ I only did what I could,” replied Katharine 
simply. “Now you must run home as fast as 
ever you can, or you’ll catch your death. I 
wonder where Alice is. I sent her for help.” 

As she spoke they perceived Alice hurrying 
down one of the paths, followed by a gray- 
uniformed policeman. 

Alice began to laugh and cry together when 
she saw that Jim was safe. The policeman was 
beset with mingled emotions. He was angry 
that the young people had failed to see the 
waiming posted at the park entrance concerning 
the condition of the ice, and yet his conscience 
pricked him with a sense of guilt in not having 


126 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


been at bis post to avert just such cbance peril 
as this. 

He combined a lecture upon tbe danger of 
taking things for granted with excuses for his 
own temporary absence from his beat, and an 
entreaty that they would not report him. 

Jim made light of the whole affair, laughed 
at Alice’s tears, promised silence regarding the 
policeman’s neglect of duty and, obeying Katha- 
rine’s commands to go home at once and change 
his wet clothing, waved them a hasty adieu 
and bounded away along one of the least fre- 
quented roads for home. 


CHAPTER XIII 


CHANCE WORDS 

On Monday Katharine returned to school. 
She had had strong doubts about the fitness of re- 
turning to so expensive a school as Miss Greaves’, 
but her misgivings were set promptly at rest by 
the principal herself, who assured her that her 
tuition had been paid in advance for the whole 
school year. 

It was very pleasant to be back again among 
the familiar scenes and faces. Her friends, 
whose name was legion, for Katharine was a 
general favorite, all welcomed her with eager- 
ness. Their former affection was tinged with a 
new tenderness at sight of her black clothes, 
and they found many little ways of expressing 
their sympathy. 

Thanks to Alice’s careful budget of notes, 
the back lessons were quickly made up and 

Katharine soon settled down into a daily rou- 

127 


128 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


tine wFicli filled every waking hour and made 
the time pass on swift wings. 

After school each day there was the regular 
visit to be paid to her mother at the hospital, 
and Katharine endeavored to make this hour a 
bright one for the invalid. She always brought 
with her some bit of gossip or comical anecdote 
to relate, which she did cleverly, her sense of 
humor being keen. 

There had already been several applicants for 
the house, and Katharine carried the tale of each 
inspection to her mother with many humorous 
touches, for she was quick to take note of 
an awkward situation or absurd slip of the 
tongue. 

But she had frequent hours of depression or, as 
she expressed it, “ fits of the blues.” The form 
of treatment which her mother was undergoing 
necessitated twelve weeks’ residence at the 
hospital, instead of, as the doctor had at first 
supposed, two months. This did not mean that 
Mrs. Allen must keep to her bed for that length 
of time, under a series of doses. She was given 
a small private parlor adjoining her bedroom 
and was promised the visits of her friends and 
outdoor exercise during the latter half of her stay. 


CHANCE WORDS 


129 


But thougli Katharine had nothing to fear 
concerning her mother’s health, she could not 
help worrying over their future. She faced the 
prospect of their reduced circumstances with 
dismay. More than once she had broached her 
plan of removing to Ohio to Mr. Griggs, but the 
lawyer had put her off with one excuse and 
another and finally declared flatly his refusal 
to discuss business of any sort until Mrs. Allen 
was strong enough to take part in the discus- 
sion, and express her own views. Whereas it 
was Katharine’s intention not to disclose this 
plan to her mother until she had studied it out 
more carefully and assured herself of its prac- 
ticableness. 

Two or three days after the skating episode, 
one of Katharine’s schoolmates announced the 
fact that Jim Griggs had caught a severe cold 
from his wetting and was ill in bed. Katharine 
was sorry to hear this, and on her way home from 
the hospital, stopped at Mr. Griggs ’ house to in- 
quire about the boy. 

As she mounted the steps she caught a fleeing 
glimpse through a curtained window of the 
lawyer seated at his desk, and the idea occurred 
to her of going to him and asking for his 
9 


130 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


plan of the Ohio property, which she wished to 
study. She had asked Mr. Griggs for this paper 
several times, and he had promised to send it 
to her but had never done so. 

The servant who answered her ring reported 
Jim as still ill in bed but somewhat better, and 
out of all danger of the attack of pleurisy which 
had threatened. 

“ I am very glad to hear that he is better,” 
said Katharine. “Tell him I inquired. And 
now I should like to see Mr. Griggs. I know 
he’s at home and will go right in.” 

“Very well, miss,” replied the servant and 
went away, leaving her to announce herself. 

But as Katharine approached the library door 
with the intention of knocking, she heard voices 
within in conversation and paused, hesitating 
to intrude herself upon a visitor. As she 
stood there, not knowing just what to do, 
she heard the stranger’s voice say in a surprised 
tone : 

“ Why, I didn’t know that you owned prop- 
erty thereabouts.” 

“ I am negotiating for it,” replied the cool, 
even voice of the lawyer. 

“ I shouldn’t think any one would want to 


CHANCE WORDS 


131 

part with property in that locality just now,” 
commented the first voice. 

“It’s a forced sale,” explained Mr. Griggs. 
“ Besides, Amsden’s pretty well off the trail, 
you know.” 

“ True, but that sort of thing is very eccentric. 

Who knows ” the other voice was beginning 

when Katharine, realizing that she was eaves- 
dropping, moved back out of hearing. 

Deciding not to interrupt the lawyer, she left 
the house and hurried home to her waiting les- 
sons. But the conversation kept repeating itself 
in her mind and she was haunted by a vague 
familiarity connected with the word Amsden, 
which returned persistently and annoyed her 
memory with the inability to place the resem- 
blance, until suddenly it flashed across her rec- 
ollection that Amsden was the name of the 
little village near which her father’s Ohio prop- 
erty was situated. Having thus satisfied her 
memory she let the whole matter slip out of her 
mind. 

Alice was waiting for her assistance upon 
an abstruse Algebra problem and the two girls 
were soon plunged deep into the mazes of 
x-y-z. 


32 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


The doctor was right when he told his wife 
that Katharine would adapt herself to the 
ways of the household and seem more like a 
member of the family than a guest. Mrs. 
Warren became more and more impressed with 
the girl’s fine character. Her strength of 
mind, her courage and her sweet, cheerful dis- 
position were winning in the extreme. 

As for Alice, she was so happy that she 
dared not look ahead to the day when Kath- 
arine’s visit must end. 

“I know it is all a beautiful dream,” she 
said one night when they were preparing for 
bed. “ A dream which will end some day and 
I shall have to wake up to the old dull time 
again of doing everything by myself. But it’s a 
very jolly dream and I’m going to enjoy it 
while it lasts.” 

“ It’s sweet of you to feel that way about it ! ” 
exclaimed Katharine warmly. “ I wish we 
really were sisters and needn’t ever be parted 
any more. Wouldn’t it be lovely ! ” 

To which suggestion the impulsive Alice re- 
sponded with a hug and a kiss. 

“ Just think what this visit has meant to me,” 
went on Katharine after a pause. “If your 


CHANCE WORDS 


133 


dear father and mother hadn’t taken me in, I’d 
have had to go by myself to some cheap board- 
ing house, I suppose, for I couldn’t have afforded 
to board at the school.” 

“ Miss Greaves would have been delighted to 
take you as a guest. She told mamma so,” 
interposed Alice. 

“ That was kind of her. But I shouldn’t have 
felt comfortable to accept her invitation. Miss 
Greaves has her living to make, you know, and 
every little counts. Anyhow, even if I had 
gone there to board, I couldn’t have felt very 
cheerful. Miss Greaves is lovely and sweet, 
but boarding school isn’t like a home. A girl 
usually finds it hard enough to bear when she 
has her home to go back to at holiday time, so 
I should think it would be quite unbearable to 
feel that it was the only home I had.” 

Katharine stopped speaking, realizing that 
though her present abode was not boarding 
school, still, it was not home. She sighed, but 
checked herself in the middle of it. 

“How silly and selfish of me to feel blue 
when mother is getting better and I have such 
good, generous friends,” she thought. 

“ What a splendid thing friendship is ! ” she 


134 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


exclaimed aloud, following this train of thought. 
“ I shall never forget what you and your family 
have done for me.” 

“It is nothing,” declared Alice. “AVe are 
all so fond of you. Mamma loves you more 
and more every day, and as for papa ! well, 
you should hear some of the nice things that 
papa says about you ! For a while I was almost 
cross with you, Kathie dear, he sang your j)raises 
so loud and so constantly. You were so brave, 
so plucky, so quick to see what ought to be 
done and so intelligent in the way you did it — 
and so on to the end of the chapter, or volume 
rather.” 

“ Did he really say all those nice things about 
me ? I am so pleased,” exclaimed Katharine. 

“ Yes, indeed, and he isn’t through saying 
them yet. The complimentary things he has 
to say about you form a sort of continued story, 
new numbers appearing indefinitely. 

“ I am sure that I could return all his compli- 
ments, dear Dr. AYarren,” declared Katharine 
with an affectionate smile. 

She had growm very fond of the kind, fatherly 
old doctor. Indeed, the two appeared to have 
set up a mutual admiration society, much to the 


CHANCE WORDS 


135 


entertainment of Mrs. Warren, who had never 
known the doctor to take a fancy to any one 
before. 

“ I am so glad that ” Alice was beginning, 

when her mother appeared in the doorway with 
an admonitory hush. 

“The doctor has just come in all tired out, 
and wants to sleep,” she whispered. “ Besides, 
it’s too late for any more chatter. I don’t see 
what you two find to talk about so steadily for 
nearly sixteen hours out of every twenty-four,” 
she added with an amused smile. 

“I’m so sorry, mamma. I didn’t know we 
were talking so loud,” said Alice contritely. 

Mrs. Warren kissed them each good night, 
tucked them in and went away, leaving Kath- 
arine with a warm, happy glow at her heart. 

But the next day the vague fears and worries 
that had perplexed her for some time past were 
re-awakened. Just as she reached the hospital 
steps, on her visit to her mother, she met Mr. 
Griggs descending them. 

“ Can he have been bothering mother about 
business ? ” she wondered, as she returned his 
bow and hurried on. 

“ Mother,” she said when greetings had been 


136 


HER FATHER^S LEGACY 


exchanged, “I met Mr. Griggs just outside. 
Had he been to see you ? ” 

“Yes,” replied Mrs. Allen coolly. 

“To talk business, I suppose. I wish he 
wouldn’t bother you with it yet. I’m sure the 
doctor wouldn’t want you to be worried.” 

“ Why merely to talk business ? ” inquired 
her mother pettishly. “ Can’t I receive a friendly 
visit from any one ? ” 

“ Oh, if it was just that,” replied Katharine 
quickly, in a relieved voice, and went on to talk 
about something else. 

But before her departure she reverted to the 
subject of the lawyer. 

“Mother,” she said a little hesitatingly, 
“ have you ever thought — did it ever strike you, 
that there was something — something not quite 
honest about Mr. Griggs ? No, I don’t mean to 
put it quite so severely. I mean something — 
well, as the boys would say, not right on the 
square.” 

Mrs. Allen’s thin face flushed a deep, dull red. 

“ I don’t see what Mr. Griggs has done that 
you should presume to criticize him to that ex- 
tent. He is an honorable, upright man, and 
you are entirely too young to form opinions of 


CHANCE WORDS 137 

people in that wholesale fashion,” she said 
sharply. 

Katharine took her reproof meekly. But the 
putting into words of the undetermined, indefi- 
nite feeling that had been growing up unper- 
ceived in her mind, had an effect like that of 
touching a pile of shavings with a match. Her 
dislike and distrust of the lawyer, dormant here- 
tofore, kindled into an active, distinct blaze of 
reality. She felt that he was a person to be 
both disliked and feared, and though she knew 
not what danger threatened, she was certain 
that she must be on her guard against him. 

She did not speak any further on the subject 
with her mother, but it was not long before her 
sudden sense of aversion was given a proper 
reason for its existence, at least in her own mind. 


CHAPTER XIV 


CONCERNIXa THE OHIO PROPERTY 

It was on Friday, in the second week of 
April ; one of those delicious, deceitful days 
that come occasionally in early spring, to lead 
one to believe that that fickle season is really 
here, causing all the buds to swell and the timid 
violets to put forth more leaves and maybe a 
modest purple blossom or two. The air was 
warm and sweet and golden. Small boys 
gathered in clusters on the street corners with 
their tops or marbles, and little girls ran shout- 
ing down the asphalt behind nimble hoops or 
went careening by on roller skates. Everything 
was a-stir with life and joy. 

But Katharine was not in tune with the day. 
It was her birthday, and she was thinking of a 
year ago, when her father had made so much of 
the occasion, and had given her so many dainty 
gifts. It was not the presents that Katharine 
was grieving for as she walked slowly along 
138 


CONCERNING THE OHIO PROPERTY 139 

the bright, sunlit streets, but the kind, thought- 
ful parent of whom she had been so fond. 

Her father had always made much of her 
holidays, but principally of birthdays. On each 
anniversary he had invariably arranged to leave 
his office early in the afternoon, and accompany 
her, either on a drive or to some place of amuse- 
ment. “ Each time carries back farther into the 
past, the lucky day that gave you to me, and 
increases a hundredfold my thanks to Provi- 
dence for that precious gift,” he had said to her 
on her last birthday. “ You are getting to be 
quite a little woman, daughter,” he had added. 
“ In another year you will be ‘ sweet sixteen,’ a 
very important age ! ” 

And now the year was past and she was six- 
teen. But it was not ‘ sweet sixteen ’ to her to- 
day, nor did she feel important. Indeed, she 
felt like nothing, except a lonely, forlorn little 
girl. 

Her thoughts continued to dwell upon her 
father. Many of the kind things he had said 
and done flooded her recollection with sad, 
sweet memories. There was so much that was 
beautiful to remember ; his sweet patience with 
her mother, his ever generous affection for her- 


140 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

self, his kindness to the very beggars on the 
street. 

“ AYhat a grand, splendid man he was ! ” she 
sighed. “ So kind, so thoiightful, so just. I 
am sure other men admired and liked him. 

“ I wonder how he happened to choose Mr. 
Griggs as his lawyer,” she went on in her 
thoughts. “ They were so different. But 
father must have had very good reasons. Can 
it be that I’ve been mistaken about Mr. Griggs '( 
That he is all he seems, or tries to be, and it’s 
only his snubbing manner toward me that has 
turned me against him ? Perhaps I am, as 
mother said, too young to form opinions,” she 
reflected with a sigh. 

And then, as so often happens when we have 
been thinking very hard about some one, Katha- 
rine looked up and saw Mr. Griggs coming to- 
ward her. He was walking slowly, strolling in 
fact. His hands were clasped loosely behind 
his back and there was an expression of satisfac- 
tion on his good-looking, clever face. At sight 
of him all Katharine’s sensation of dislike 
surged full upon her. She became irritated 
and annoyed, and was seized with a strong de- 
sire to say something to change that very supe- 


CONCERNING THE OHIO PROPERTY 141 

rior smile. She wished mischievously that he 
might slip or stumble on something that would 
give him a roll in the mud ; anything to make 
him look undignified and ridiculous. 

Mr. Griggs was too occupied with his own 
pleasant thoughts to observe the passers-by, and 
Katharine slipped past him unnoticed, only too 
glad to escape the necessity of speaking. She 
felt sure that he had been to see her mother 
again and it was with a presentiment of coming 
trouble that she mounted the hospital steps. 

Mrs. Allen was lying on her couch. She 
looked flushed and excited. She responded 
faintly to Katharine’s greeting, stating that she 
had a headache and was just settling for a nap. 

I won’t stay long, then,” said Katharine. 

But she felt sorely disappointed. Having 
no lessons to prepare for the following day, she 
had come expecting to remain for the whole 
afternoon with her mother. It would be very 
lonely to spend her birthday at the doctor’s 
house. She knew that neither Alice nor Mrs. 
Warren would be at home. But to her sur- 
prise, her mother took her words with an en- 
tirely different meaning. 

‘‘ Oh, very well then,” she said pettishly. “ I 


142 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


thought you would talk to me, or read aloud 
until I got sleepy. IVe been upset and need 
calming. But of course it’s too much to expect 
you to give up your young friends for a help- 
less, dull invalid.” 

“ Why, mother dear, I came to stay. Indeed 
I did. But I thought I was in the way — that 
Miss Coatlee was busy ” 

“ Poor Miss Coatlee, don’t you suppose she 
ever needs any rest ! ” interrupted Mrs. Allen 
crossly. “ She is going to lie down and I shall 
stay here by myself. I don’t care to interfere 
with your good times. I don’t intend to be a 
drag on any one ! ” 

She began to sob hysterically. The nurse, 
who had been removing Mrs. Allen’s shoes and 
laying an afghan over her feet, paid no atten- 
tion to this little outburst but went on with 
her arrangements. Katharine followed her ex- 
ample and without replying to her mother’s last 
speech, proceeded to take off her hat and coat 
and settle herself for the afternoon. Miss Coat- 
lee laid out. the morning paper and several 
magazines, adjusted the window-shades and 
then took up a bottle. 

“ It is time for your medicine, Mrs. Allen,” 


CONCERNING THE OHIO PROPERTY 143 

she said in the low firm voice which the invalid 
never disobeyed. “ I shall leave word to be 
called at five,” she added, turning to Katharine. 

I think everything will be all right, (glancing 
toward the couch where Mrs. Allen was already 
drying her eyes) but if you need me before that 
time, don’t hesitate to send for me.” 

“Thank you, but we’ll be all right. Miss 
Coatlee. Don’t think about us, but have a nice 
rest,” replied Katharine cheerfully. “We are 
going to have a cosy time, aren’t we, mother ? ” 

The nurse went out and closed the door be- 
hind her. Katharine picked up one of the 
magazines and seating herself by the window, 
began to turn over the pages. 

“ There’s nothing interesting in those stupid 
things,” said her mother impatiently. “ They 
bore me to death. Can’t you talk about any- 
thing ? Haven’t you seen some one that I 
know, or hasn’t something funny or exciting 
happened ? ” 

Katharine laid down the book and searched 
her mind for some bit of gossip. For once, 
she had no amusing story ready. 

“ I’m afraid I don’t know anything particu- 
larly interesting, mother,” she said apologeti- 


144 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


cally. It was very Lard to talk to order. “ Mr. 
Phelps has invited a missionary to tell of his 
life in China, and the doctor has promised Alice 
and me that we may go to the lecture.” 

Mrs. Allen made no response and Katharine 
went on giving detached bits of such news as 
she had heard discussed at the doctor’s. A 
new building was going up on State street ; a 
millionaire had endowed the hospital in which 
Dr. Warren was interested ; a big storm had 
wrecked one of the lake steamers and — ” Mrs. 
Allen interrupted her. 

“ I’ve seen all that in the papers,” she sighed. 
‘‘ Talk about something more interesting. Is 
Mrs. Warren kind to you? Do they have elab- 
orate dinners ? Do you like Alice as much as 
ever ? ” 

“More! She is just like a sister. They are 
all so kind to me and make me feel just as if I 
were at home,” cried Katharine warmly. “ Do 
you know, mother,” she went on after a pause, 
“I believe that no one realizes how many kind 
people there are in the world until they are in 
trouble.” 

Her mother gave an. ungrateful humph. A 
long silence followed during which Mrs. Allen 


CONCERNING THE OHIO PROPERTY 145 

appeared restless and disturbed. She was on 
the point of speaking several times, and checked 
herself. Something was evidently on her mind. 
At last she said abruptly : 

“ Mr. Griggs was here to-day.” 

She spoke carelessly, yet there was a tone in 
her voice and the suddenness of her remark 
that made Katharine feel uncomfortable, as if 
a disagreeable subject had been introduced, 

I passed him on my way here,” she replied 
with no show of surprise. “ Did he have some- 
thing pleasant to talk about ? He looked very 
— very cheerful.” 

“ He wants me to sell that property in Ohio.” 

Katherine felt suddenly suspicious. She 
could not account for the feeling at the moment, 
but it was very strong. 

“ Why does he want you to sell it ? ” she 
asked and added, “ I thought the land was con- 
sidered worthless.” 

So it is, nearly.” 

“Then why should any one wish to buy 
it?” 

“ I didn’t say that any one wanted to buy it,” 
snapped Mrs. Allen. “ I just said that Mr. 
Griggs suggested our trying to sell it. As it 

10 


146 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


stands, I am paying out taxes on it without 
any return, and I can’t afford it. He has even 
offered to buy it in himself, to take it off my 
hands.” 

“ That is very kind of him ! ” ejaculated 
Katharine. 

She was both astonished and puzzled. She 
could not understand why so shrewd a man of 
business as Mr. Griggs was reputed to be, 
should volunteer to perform an act of sheer 
generosity. If it was merely out of the kind- 
ness of his heart, then he was a friend indeed ! 
Katharine flushed with shame at the injustice 
she had done him in her thoughts and began 
to upbraid herself for her unreasonable doubts 
of him. Then there rushed back upon her rec- 
ollection those chance words that she had 
heard in Mr. Griggs’ study. 

“I shouldn’t think any one would want to 
part with property in that locality just now.” 

“ It’s a forced sale. Besides, Amsden’s pretty 
well off the trail, you know.” 

True, but that sort of thing is very eccen- 
tric. Who knows ” 

Now Amsden, Ohio, was the name of the 
village near which their own property lay. 


CONCERNING THE OHIO PROPERTY 147 

And Mr. Griggs had offered to buy in this 
land — nay had urged Mrs. Allen to part with 
it ! Of course there might be other Amsdens, 
in other parts of the country but 

She looked up quickly. 

“ Did you accept his offer ? ” 

I told him that I could not allow him to 
make any personal sacrifice on my account, but 
that if he found any one else who would buy it, 
I’d sell at a reasonable figure.” 

“ Mother,” exclaimed Katharine earnestly, 
“ please don’t sell that land. I have a feeling 
that we ought to hold on to it.” 

“ A feeling that we ought to hold on to it ! 
A feeling that we ought to go on paying out 
taxes on a lot of worthless land, just as if we 
weren’t almost beggars and have to count every 
penny we spend ! ” 

‘‘ But how can we be sure that it is worth- 
less ? ” 

“ Mr. Griggs says so, and wasn’t it marked on 
your father’s will ! ” returned her mother tri- 
umphantly. 

“ But that reference in the will might have 
meant that it was uncultivated. It ought to 
be good for farming.” 


148 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

Mrs. Allen turned pettishly on her couch. 

“ Mother,” pleaded Katharine rising, “ mother, 
please don’t sell that land ! At least not yet 
until we can find out more about it. I have a 
feeling that some good will come of it ! ” 

“ That it will be converted into a park with 
a palace in the middle, fairy-book fashion, I 
suppose,” said her mother mockingly. “ 1 do 
wish you’d stop having ‘ feeling ’ about things, 
Kate. I can learn all I want to know about it 
from Mr. Griggs, and I shall certainly get rid 
of it at the first opportunity.” 


CHAPTER XV 


A SURPRISE PARTY 

When Mrs. Allen liad given utterance to 
what she wished Katharine to understand was 
her final determination, she turned her face 
away, moving restlessly on her couch. She was 
pursued by the memory of an act committed 
earlier in the day, and was conscious that the 
deed had not been one of justice to her daughter. 
She could not meet the grave, questioning 
glance with which Katharine was regarding 
her. 

The girl sighed and turned away, wondering. 
Not having the key to her mother’s mind, she 
could not understand her mood. That this sub- 
ject was distasteful to the invalid was evident. 
But why ? What had Mr. Griggs been saying ? 
What had he been doing ? 

She went over to the window, and sat down 
looking out absently upon the pretty hospital 

149 


150 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


garden. Her brain was thronged with ques- 
tions, doubts and suspicions, which refused to 
be hushed. 

“ Oh,” she thought despairingly, ‘‘ I wish I 
were a man, to take the facts, set them in order 
and reason things out coolly instead of getting 
all excited and panicky, jumping from one con- 
clusion to another, like a dog after flies. But 
that something is wrong somewhere, I feel sure, 
and I must find out what it is. If only mother 
would promise not to sell that land ! ” 

A new thought came to her and she resolved 
to make a last effort. It was distasteful to her 
to remind her mother of the day, and harder 
still to ask a gift, but she put her pride in her 
pocket. 

“ Mother,” she said gently, advancing to the 
side of the couch, ‘‘ mother, I want to ask you 
a very great favor. To-day is my birthday. 
Won’t you give me that land for a birthday 
present ? ” 

Mrs. Allen flushed painfully. She had for- 
gotten what day it was and felt reproved by 
Katharine’s reminder. Moreover, it made the 
wrong of her former act glaring. 

‘‘ I’m very sorry I haven’t been able to get 


A SURPRISE PARTY 


151 

you a present, Kate,” she said tearfully, “ but I 
cannot do what you ask. It is impossible.” 

“ Not even if I agree to pay off the taxes and 
all ? ” 

“ Don’t be ridiculous ! How could you pay 
off the taxes ? ” 

“ I’d manage some way,” declared Katharine 
resolutely. 

“ There,” exclaimed Mrs. Allen with unmis- 
takable relief in her tone, I hear Miss Coatlee 
in the other room, and you must go. You 
must hurry or you won’t get home till after 
dark.” 

She watched impatiently while Katharine 
put on her coat and hat, checking any effort at 
speech with injunctions to make haste. When 
Katharine was ready to start, her mother pulled 
her down on her knees beside the couch and 
kissed her. 

There,” she said, slipping a five-dollar bill 
into her hand, I’m sorry you’ve had such a 
stupid birthday, Kate. But it’s not a time for 
rejoicing. Next year perhaps, we’ll be able to 
celebrate.” 

Katharine looked from the money in her 
hand to her mother’s face and rose slowly to 


152 


HER FATHER^S LEGACY 


her feet. She was silent for a moment and 
then, quietly thanking her mother for the gift 
and wishing her good night, she left the room. 

She had quitted the hospital later than she 
realized and the early spring twilight was 
already falling. She hurried through the streets, 
too absorbed in her own thoughts to notice, as 
she approached it, how brilliantly the doctor’s 
house was lighted. 

Alice herself answered the bell. 

“ How dreadfully late you are ! ” she cried. 
“We were afraid something had happened.” 

Then she drew Katharine into the hall and 
began to unbutton her jacket. 

“Happy birthday, Kathie dear,” she cried 
with an excited laugh. “ Happy birthday. 
Come,” and she pulled her toward the parlor 
door, which was closed. 

“ It’s so late. Let me go up-stairs first and 
get tidy for dinner,” said Katharine. 

“ No, no, there’s plenty of time. You must 
come into the parlor first.” 

Katharine yielded, with a mild wonder at 
the other’s eager manner. 

Alice threw open the double doors and Katha- 
rine beheld, to her great astonishment, that the 


A SURPRISE PARTY 


153 


room was about half filled with boys and girls, 
standing in a large group. 

‘‘ Happy birthday, happy birthday ! ” they 
shouted, surging forward and surrounding 
her, breaking into peals of merry laughter at 
her bewildered face. 

Katharine was completely overcome by the 
surprise. She sank into the nearest chair and 
gasped out her amazement. 

“ Why — why — how did you know ? ” she 
asked. 

“Alice told us. WeVe known it several 
days. It was awfully hard to keep you from 
finding out things. But we did surprise you, 
didn’t we ? ” 

“ Surprise me ! I should say so ! Alice, you 
dear, dear thing, how did you happen to re- 
member about it ? ” 

“ I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks. 
I knew it came early this month, but I wasn’t 
sure of the date, so I poked around among your 
books until I found one that had been given 
you on your birthday.” 

“ There are just sixteen of us,” went on Alice^ 
explaining her plan. “One of us for each of 
your birthdays and you yourself make the lucky 


154 her FATHER’S LEGACY 

‘one to grow on.’ Now, come over here and 
see ! ” 

On a table at one end of the room was heaped 
a pile of dainty, interesting-looking packages 
' done up in tissue paper and tied with gay rib- 
bons. Katharine flushed with pleasure at sight 
of them. 

“ Oh, this is too sweet of you ! ” she exclaimed, 
greatly touched by this display of good-will 
and affection on the part of her friends. 

The boys and girls clustered eagerly about as 
she opened parcel after parcel, each containing 
some dainty token. It had been agreed upon 
beforehand that no name should appear with 
the gift, but each was accompanied by an appro- 
priate bit of original verse, from the style and 
sentiment of which was to be divined the giver. 

The verses were all brightly nonsensical and 
some really clever. The doctor and Mrs. War- 
ren had insisted upon contributing their shares, 
and the doctor’s verse created a good deal of 
puzzlement before his name was guessed. By 
the time everything had been duly admired it 
was nearly seven o’clock. 

“ Now, Kathie,” said Alice practically, 
“ you’ve got only ten minutes to brush your hair 


A SURPRISE PARTY 155 

and wash your hands, so run along, for we’re 
all as hungry as bears.” 

Katharine did as she was bid. The sudden 
whirl of excitement and the complete un- 
expectedness of this surprise had had an exhila- 
rating effect upon her depressed and anxious 
mind. She ran up to her room in a glad rush, 
and in very few more than the ten minutes al- 
lotted by Alice for her toilet, managed to slip 
into her best dress, a very pretty one of black 
taffeta silk. She loosened her lovely hair, sim- 
ply confining it by a broad black ribbon, tied in 
a becoming bow on the top of her head. The 
glistening curls rippled over her shoulders and 
down to her waist in a golden shower, the twin- 
ing tendrils shimmering against the somber back- 
ground of black silk. Pier large, eager eyes 
shone like stars and two soft spots of vivid 
crimson burned in her cheeks where the dim- 
ples played. Her friends gazed at her in won- 
dering admiration when she appeared among 
them again. They had never seen her look so 
pretty. 

“ I wanted to give you a big evening party,” 
Alice whispered to her on the way into the 
dining-room, ‘‘only I knew you would rather 


HER FATHER^S LEGACY 


156 

not— just yet. So I asked those we know best 
to come in and take supper and play games. I 
hope it will be fun.” 

Katharine resolved to thank her friend for 
her thoughtfulness by making the party a per- 
fect success. She answered each jest with one 
wittier, and capped each funny story with one 
more comic. Occasionally the little black dog 
of care would obtrude its nose for a moment, 
but she instantly tucked it back into her mind 
again, nor did she allow her memory to dwell 
upon the recollection of what this day had 
always been to her father. She kept her gay 
spirits keyed to the highest pitch, determined 
that Alice’s party should “ go off well.” 

The evening passed all too rapidly. The 
supper table was enlivened with shouts and 
shrieks over the cracking of the bonbons, the 
paper cap of droll design that each contained, 
soon adorning its owner’s head. The birthday 
cake was greeted with hurrahs, and Katharine 
made a great mystery of her wish, before en- 
deavoring to extinguish all the candles in three 
trials. 

When they returned to the drawing-room, 
Alice set the ball of fun rolling by proposing a 



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A SURPRISE PARTY 


157 


round of “ hunt the thimble,” and game followed 
game, each entered into with greater spirit than 
the one before. 

At length one of the girls chanced to mention 
that she had been reading up on palmistry, and 
was immediately besieged to read the hands of 
those present. 

‘‘I could never get through with you all 
to-night ! ” she exclaimed, “ but I’ll do as many 
as I have time for. Kathie must be first, as it’s 
her party.” 

Katharine, nothing loth, sat down and spread 
out her palms. He hands were long and slender, 
with deep, almond nails and tapering fingers, of 
the kind known by palmists as the artistic. 
The girl bent over and scrutinized intently the 
many deep, firm lines traced upon the delicate 
pink skin. 

“ Oh,” she exclaimed, looking up, “ you’ve 
got a splendid fortune, Kate ! The life line is 
firm and long. You’ve had a quiet life so far — 
some sorrow, but oh, the good things that are 
coming to you ! ” 

“ Oh, not really ? ” cried Katharine, leaning 
forward interestedly. “ Tell me ! ” 

Well, first you are going to have some sort 


158 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


of trouble — mental worry, I think — but you 
are coming out of it all right and everything 
then is smooth sailing. Friends, all your wishes 
granted, and just heaps of money ! ” 

“ You’re just teasing me, and making it up 
as you go along,” laughed Katharine, drawing 
away her hand. 

“ Indeed I’m not ! It’s all there as plain as a 
printed page. I could explain it to you, by the 
lines and mounts and things, if I had time.” 

“ But it’s really too good to believe ! I shall 
be satisfied if the part about my worries ending 
happily and having lots of friends comes true,” 
said Katharine, and resolved to put the matter 
out of her mind. 

But her friend’s words would return to her 
and the gay prophecy haunted her with a super- 
stitious tenacity. 

The party wound up with a grand romp over 
“ musical chairs,” and as the good nights were 
being said Alice produced a big bag, which 
she bade Katharine hold while each guest in 
turn put in a hand and drew out whatever 
package his or her fingers touched first. There 
was great merriment over the opening of these 
parcels, each of which contained some small 


A SURPRISE PARTY 


159 


object, useful or merely nonsensical. The boys 
generally got the needle cases and button bags 
and the girls the tops and marbles. Katharine’s 
own turned out to be, very appropriately, a small 
birthday book with pencil attached, in which 
they all promptly wrote their names. 

“Oh, Alice dear, it has just been lovely, and 
you are to good too me ! ” exclaimed Katharine 
as the last guest departed. 

“ If it was a success, you made it so,” replied 
Alice admiringly. 

“Nonsense,” rejoined Katharine and gave 
her friend a bear’s hug as they returned to the 
parlor to gather up Katharine’s gifts. 

The parcels made two armfuls and the girls 
carried them up to their own room to look at 
and admire again, and to “ talk it all over.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 

Two or three weeks after her birthday Kath- 
arine was surprised, and none too agreeably so, 
to receive a note from Mr. G-riggs, asking her to 
call at his office, at the earliest possible hour, on 
a matter of business. 

Katharine went that same afternoon. She 
was flurried and excited, feeling convinced that 
a momentous crisis was about to be faced. For 
she took it for granted that this summons was 
for a discussion concerning the sale of the Ohio 
property, and she resolved to do everything in 
her power to prevent that sale, or at least to put 
it off. 

Her knock upon the lawyer’s office door was 
answered immediatel}^, and she was conducted 
at once to Mr. Griggs’s private room. He rose 
to greet her with a great show of ceremony, 
drawing out a large leather-covered armchair 

for her and then resuming his own seat at his 
i6o 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT i6i 


desk. Katharine returned his greeting a little 
stiffly. 

“You wrote that you wanted to see me about 
a matter of business,” she said, coming promptly 
to the point. 

“Yes,” he replied, “I have had a definite offer 
for the house.” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed Katharine and then 
stopped. She had been about to ask : for the 
house on the Ohio land ? 

For the past few weeks her thoughts had 
been so engrossed with the subject of that land, 
and she was so certain that it was concerning it 
that Mr. Griggs wished to see her, that she 
found it difficult to bring her mind to bear 
upon other questions. 

“ You seem surprised,” commented the 
lawyer, casting a shrewd glance in her direc- 
tion. “ Didn’t you think that when Mr. Brown 
went over the house, he seemed pleased with 
it?” 

“ Mr. Brown ? Oh, yes,” replied Katharine 
quickly. “ But I was thinking about — that is, 
I wasn’t thinking of the house. It has been so 
long since he looked over it that I had given up 
hoping he would want it,” 


62 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Yes, Mr. Brown has been taking bis time 
He wanted to make sure that he could find noth- 
ing else he liked better. He is willing to take 
the house off your hands for the remainder of 
your lease, but he proposes, instead of paying 
an additional rent for it furnished, to buy out- 
right the furniture as it stands now.” 

Katharine forced her wandering thoughts to 
bear upon the matter in question and weighed 
the proposition carefully in her mind. The offer 
was entirely unexpected and she was not at all 
sure that it was a profitable one. It did not 
seem to her so good an arrangement to sell the 
furniture outright as to rent it with the house, 
according to the original plan. Although it 
was all handsome and good, she realized that it 
could only bring second-hand prices, whereas, 
according to the clergyman’s estimate, its re- 
maining in the house ought to add another 
seven hundred dollars to the yearly rent. 

She sat with bent face and serious eyes, going 
over the facts. What would be her mother’s 
wushes in the matter, she wondered ? She was 
aware of Mrs. Allen’s keen desire to have an 
amount of ready money in the bank — something 
wherewith to defray immediate expenses. Per- 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 163 

liaps, if the furniture were sold, Mrs. Allen 
would be willing to give up, for a time at least, 
her intention of parting with the Ohio prop- 
erty. 

Mr. Griggs watched her intent face with 
amused eyes, far from guessing her real thoughts. 
AVith all his cleverness, he was not a good reader 
of character, and looked upon Katharine merely 
as a thoughtless schoolgirl with no care for the 
realities of life, and old in speech and manner 
because of constant association with older 
people. 

“ How much will Mr. Brown give for the 
furniture ? ” she asked suddenly, looking up and 
flushing as she caught his amused, careless gaze 
upon her face. 

Mr. Griggs was surprised and impressed with 
the practicalness of the question. 

“He has offered fifteen hundred dollars for 
every article of furniture as it stands ; parlors, 
dining-room, bedi’ooms, kitchen, everything,” 
he replied promptly. “Of course he realizes 
that there will be some few pieces you will want 
to keep for association’s sake,” he added with a 
kindliness of tone that Katharine found com- 
forting, even while it surprised her. She had 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


164 

not thought the lawyer capable of sympathy 
with sentiment. 

Fifteen hundred dollars ! It seemed like a 
very large sum indeed to receive all at once. 
Yet Katharine hesitated. She made a hasty 
mental calculation and her face fell. 

“ I don’t think it is enough,” she said f alter- 
ing] y. Yet, by itself, it seemed almost too much. 

Mr. Griggs arched his eyebrows and his ex- 
pression changed from that of amusement to one 
of irritation. 

“ It is absolutely all that the furniture is 
worth. I thought it a very generous offer,” he 
said drily. “ Why does fifteen hundred dollars 
strike you as being so small a sum ? ” 

Katharine detected the note of sarcasm in his 
tone and drew herself up stiffly. 

“ The sum does not seem a small one,” she re- 
plied with dignity. “ But it does not come up 
to the amount at which the furniture would 
rent for the remaining three years and a half of 
our lease.” 

Mr. Griggs showed his surprise at her business 
point of view and responded : 

“The house, rented furnished at eighteen 
hundred ” 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 165 

“ Mr. Phelps said he thought we ought to get 
twenty-five hundred,” interrupted Katharine 
quickly. She thought that the lawyer was not 
doing full justice to their interests. 

“ Mr. Phelps ! What does a clergyman know 
of business ! ” ejaculated the lawyer impatiently. 

He thought that the house-rent was prob- 
ably eighteen hundred and that we ought to get 
another seven hundred for the furniture.” 

“ The house rents for twelve hundred — one 
hundred dollars a month,” replied Mr. Griggs 
in his hardest, most business-like tone, and the 
additional six hundred T allowed for the fur- 
niture is an outside figure.” 

Katharine looked her disappointment. 

“ I see that I have been mistaken,” she said. 
“ But even then the total amount for the rent 
of the furniture would be more than Mr. Brown 
has offered.” 

Eighteen hundred dollars,” calculated Mr. 
Griggs, “for the tliree years ” 

“You forget the half,” Katharine reminded 
him. 

“ Well, then, twenty-one hundred dollars 
spread over a period of three years and a half 
(always provided that you get a tenant at that 


i66 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


price) offsetting a sum of fifteen hundred dollars 
paid down cash at your banker’s.” 

“ But we should still have the furniture at the 
end of that time.” 

“ With three years and a half of wear and 
tear.” 

“But Mr. Brown, or any tenant who was 
nice, would not abuse the furniture.” 

“Probably not. But he would sit in the 
chairs, walk over the carpets and sleep in the 
beds. Silk cushions will wear out and springs 
grow feeble.” 

Katharine was not yet convinced. 

“ It is a very difficult matter to decide,” she 
said with a sigh. 

The lawyer’s patience was fast giving way. 

“ This comes of dealing with infants,” he 
muttered angrily. But aloud he said suavely : 
“ My dear Miss Kate, it is not all difficult to 
decide. Let me put it to you plainly. If you 
decline this offer, you not only refuse a real 
bargain, gaining a goodly sum of money to invest, 
or to draw interest in the bank, but you run 
the risk of letting the house stand idle for 
months at a time, waiting for a tenant. You 
must realize that very few people wish to en- 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 167 


cumber themselves with a house in the spring. 
Every one is anxious to be free to leave the city 
during the hot months. Therefore, suppose the 
house remains empty all summer, where is the 
one hundred dollars to come from each month 
to pay the rent ? ” 

“ Oh, but we couldn’t afford to let the house 
go empty all summer,” cried Katharine quickly, 
dismayed at the suggestion. 

“ Moreover,” continued the lawyer smoothly, 
raising a hand to check her interruption, “ there 
is the chance of getting a temporary tenant who 
will take the house for a year, leaving you to 
face this same problem again next spring. Be- 
lieve me, Miss Kate, Mr. Brown’s offer is most 
generous and if you take my advice you will 
close with it at once.” 

“ I suppose that is the wisest thing to do,” 
admitted Katharine humbly. “ But I wonder 
if mother will approve. I should like to talk 
it over with her. The matter does not have to 
be settled at once, does it ? ” she asked anxiously. 

Mr. Brown is waiting for his answer and it 
would be better to make a decision without 
worrying your mother,” replied Mr. Griggs con- 
strainedly. 


i68 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Katharine shot him a keen glance under which 
the lawyer’s eyes fell. He tapped the paper- 
knife with which he had been toying nervously 
on the desk. The truth was, Mrs. Allen had 
had such a prolonged nervous attack after Mr. 
Griggs’ last visit, that the doctor had almost 
forbidden him the house and had prohibited the 
slightest mention of business for weeks to come. 

Katharine guessed something of this from the 
lawyer’s sheepish, embarrassed manner. 

“You mean that she has been so bothered 
that the doctor has had to forbid any more of 
it,” she said bluntly. “ Was it about the Ohio 
land?” 

A dull, angry flush stained the lawyer’s cheeks. 
He felt that he was being called to account by 
this chit of a girl whom he had always pat- 
ronized and snubbed. 

“AVas it about that Ohio land?” repeated 
Katharine insistently. 

“ My dear child,” he replied in his coolest, 
most intolerable tones, “ may I ask why you think 
yourself endowed with the right of interfering 
with matters that are no concern of yours ? ” 

Katharine flushed and then paled. She had 
been told very plainly to mind her own business. 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 169 

Feeling convinced by this that there was more in 
the question of the Ohio property than met the 
eye, she took no heed of his remark. 

“ Mr. Griggs,” she exclaimed, ‘‘ why are you 
so anxious to have my mother sell that land ? 
1 know it was marked waste on my father’s 
will, but that doubtless meant that it was 
merely uncultivated. I am sure land in that 
locality could not be absolutel}^ worthless.” 

‘‘ How do you mean in that locality ! ” de- 
manded the lawyer with quick suspicion. 

“ Why, it is right in the midst of a splendid 
farming district, is not very far from a large 
town and is near the lake region.” 

“ Nevertheless, the fact remains that it is 
bringing in nothing and your mother is paying 
out taxes which she can ill afford,” retorted Mr. 
Griggs sneeringly. 

“ Oh, I know that you think I am interfering 
and all that, but now that my mother is ill, I 
feel that I have a right ” 

“You have no right to demand the property,” 
interrupted Mr. Giiggs quickly, an ugly look 
coming into his eyes. “I admit it is to be 
guessed, from what he wrote on the back of the 
deed, that your father had some idea of giving 


170 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

you tlie land on your eighteenth birthday, but 
no such intentions being mentioned in the will, 
that clause is not valid.” 

He stopped abruptly. Katharine’s blank, 
wondering gaze told him that he had betrayed 
himself needlessly. Evidently Mrs. Allen had 
not confessed to her daughter what she had 
done. 

Comprehension began to dawn in Katharine’s 
eyes. She had been about to demand his mean- 
ing, but checked herself. After a pause, she 
reverted abruptly to the former subject. 

“ I will accept Mr. Brown’s offer in my 
mother’s name,” she said calmly. ‘‘ And if you 
will kindly make an appointment for me to 
meet Mr. Brown at the house, to settle last 
questions, I shall be much obliged.” 

The lawyer bowed silently and Katharine 
turned to leave the room. Then she paused as 
though seized with a sudden thought. 

“Will you lend me that plan of our Ohio 
property which you have ? ” she asked. 

Mr. Griggs flushed again — that dull, slow 
flush of a cowardly man, and his upper lip curled 
like a snarling dog’s. The ugly look was still 
in his eyes. 


THE LAWYER IN A NEW LIGHT 171 

“ No, I will not,” he replied coolly. 

The mask was entirely off now, showing the 
real man, crafty, sly and weak. He was furious 
with himself for his slip of the tongue. 

Katharine was taken aback at this flat refusal. 
She had expected reasons, excuses. She looked 
full at the lawyer for a moment, then, with an 
indifferent, “Very well, then,” she turned and 
left the room. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A NEW FRIEND 

But Katharine was far from feeling the calm- 
ness she affected. With wildly beating heart 
and excited brain she hurried down into the 
street. The trolley car seemed fairly to creep 
along. AVould it never get to the street where 
she was to alight ? She covered the short dis- 
tance from State Street to the doctor’s house 
almost at a run, and dashed up the stairs to her 
own room. 

Alice was sitting there at her books. She 
looked up in surprise at her friend’s abrupt en- 
trance. Feeling that her excitement called for 
an explanation, Katharine exclaimed as she 
hurriedly removed her coat and hat : 

“ I’ve been talking to Mr. Griggs about the 
house. He’s* found a tenant who will take it 
for all the rest of our lease and who’s going to 
buy the furniture.” 

“ How lucky ! ” cried Alice with ready sym- 
172 


A NEW FRIEND 


173 


pathy. “ Doesn’t it take a great load off your 
mind ? ” 

‘‘ It does indeed,” replied Katharine happily. 

But her pleasure in this, was submerged in 
the thoughts that Mr. Griggs’ words had 
wakened. She realized from what he had said 
that she had in her possession the deed to the dis- 
puted laud ! The property could not be sold un- 
less the title-deed was produced, and she alone 
could do that. It was an intense relief to think 
that she held the solution to the difficulty in 
her own hands. 

It was not surprising that she had hitherto 
been ignorant of the nature of the paper which 
she had found inscribed to her in her father’s 
handwriting. It had never occurred to her to 
open it and examine the contents. 

Her mind flashed back to the scene between 
Mr. Griggs and herself on the day she had 
carried the bundle of letters into the parlor. 
He had evidently recognized the paper then. 

Alice returned to her lessons. Katharine 
hung up her wraps in the closet and then going 
over to the bureau she opened the top drawer 
and took out a package of letters, sitting down 
with it by the window. She looked at the 


74 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


package, looked at it again, turned it over, shook 
it, and with growing excitement lifted the 
corners of each separate envelope. With a 
smothered exclamation of surprise and alarm 
she sprang up and began turning over rapidly 
the contents of the drawer. The document 
that had been packeted with the letters was 
gone ! 

“ Aren’t you coming to study, Kathie ? ” 
called Alice. “ What are you looking for ? ” 

Katharine turned from her vain search with 
a vague look. 

“ I’m looking for — for a paper. It wasn’t 
worth anything much,” she said, with the instinct 
of a wounded animal to conceal the extent of 
its hurt, “ but it had some of father’s hand- 
writing on the back and — and I valued it.” 

“ Oh, I know what you mean,” said Alice 
cheerfully. “ I forgot to tell you, but on the 
afternoon of your birthday a messenger came 
from your mother, asking for that paper. You 
weren’t here and as I knew where you kept it, 
I gave it to him. Didn’t I do right ? ” she 
asked anxiously, surveying Katharine’s pale 
face with alarm. 

“Oh yes — yes, of course. I suppose so,” 


A NEW FRIEND 


175 


answered Katharine blankly. Then she turned 
sharply. “ The messenger — are you sure he 
was from my mother ? Did he bring any note 
to identify him ? ” 

“ Yes, I’m sure, for he was in the hospital uni- 
form. He had a visiting card of your mother’s 
with a description of the paper written on it. 
It was enclosed with a package of letters, the 
card said.” 

Katharine turned away and hid her face in 
her hands. Had her mother too deceived her ? 

‘‘Did you keep the card? Was it in my 
mother’s handwriting ? ” she asked after a 
pause. 

“No, it was a man’s handwriting. It said, 
‘ Mrs. Allen wishes ’ and so on, in the third 
person. I’m afraid I threw’ the card away.” 

“ Well, it doesn’t matter,” said Katharine 
with a last effort at self-control. Then she 
suddenly burst into tears. 

“ Oh, Kathie, please forgive me ! I’m aw- 
fully sorry if I’ve done anything wrong,” pleaded 
Alice humbly. 

Katharine dried her tears, ashamed of her 
momentary weakness. 

“ There’s nothing to forgive, Alice,” she said 


76 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


gentl}^ “ Of course you did riglit. It’s only 
that I was a little — a little taken by surprise.” 

She opened her books and tried to study. 
But it was impossible to keep her thoughts 
from wandering. Mr. Griggs was determined 
that Mrs. Allen should part with the Ohio land 
-^no doubt he himself was to be the purchaser. 
In order to make this possible he had persuaded 
her to obtain possession of the title-deed with- 
out Katharine’s knowledge. To go to such 
lengths he must want it very badly. But how 
did he know that she had the document, when 
she was not aware of it herself ? She went over 
in detail the memory of her interview with the 
lawyer concerning her father’s letters ; his keen 
desire to be given the keeping of them. With- 
out a doubt he had then recognized the nature 
of the paper. 

What was she to do ? She could not go to 
her mother. Mrs. Allen’s state of health would 
not permit the broaching of so agitating a sub- 
ject. Indeed, what good could such a discussion 
do ? It would amount to a direct accusation, 
which Mrs. Allen would deny. She seemed 
entirely under the lawyer’s influence. Her 
mother’s conduct on her birthday, puzzling at 


A NEW FRIEND 


177 


the time, was perfectly comprehensible to 
Katharine now. She was fretting under the 
consciousness of the part she had played against 
her daughter. Ah, if only she were of age and 
could demand that which she was sure her 
father had intended should be hers, and of which 
the unscrupulous lawyer was trying to rob her ! 

Katharine’s suspicions were now confirmed. 
There was some secret connected with the Ohio 
property which Mr. Griggs knew ; something 
which would yield profit to the owner of the 
land. She resolved that he should not become 
that owner if she could prevent. 

It was hard to reflect that she had had the 
simplest and most absolute preventive within 
her own grasp and had lost it. If only she had 
known in time ! But she did not lose heart, 
though she brooded over the matter until she 
grew thin and pale. 

In the mean time there were other matters 
not to be neglected. Her lessons must be 
learned, her mother cheered, and then there was 
the final settlement of the furniture question 
to be made. 

Mrs. Allen was elated at the prospect of 
disposing of all the furniture at once, with so 


1/8 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

little trouble and at so good a bargain. She 
and Katharine wrote out a short list of such 
articles as they wished to keep for their own 
future use, or for the associations connected 
with them. Katharine met Mr. Brown at the 
house, and together they made an inventory of 
the furniture. 

When it was complete and Mr. Brown had 
noted down the articles to be set aside, Katha- 
rine took advantage of a moment when he was 
busy with his papers in the parlor, to slip out 
into the dining-room and take a final farewell 
of the room that held so many happy memo- 
ries. She still yearned to possess the chair that 
had been her father’s. 

Nothing in the room had been moved since 
she herself had rearranged the furniture on the 
day of her departure. Seating herself in the 
armchair where it stood stiffly against the wall, 
she turned and embraced the back. 

‘‘You dear, dearchair,” she exclaimed. “It 
seems dreadful that I must give you up. You 
knew my father ; how kind he was, how jolly 
and how dear. You were used to having him 
near you, and I’m sure you loved him, you made 
him so comfortable. Didn’t you love him ? 


A NEW FRIEND 


179 


And now I must go away and never see you 
again. How I wish I could take you with me and 
use you for his sake ! ” 

Just then she was startled by the sound of a 
slight cough behind her and became conscious 
for the first time that she had been talking 
aloud. She sprang to her feet, her cheeks burn- 
ing with embarrassment, and turned. 

Mr. Brown was standing in the doorway, 
his open note-book in his hand. He was a nice- 
looking old gentleman and in many ways re- 
minded Katharine of the doctor. He was fat, 
like Dr. Warren, and his manner was kindly. 
But he was a good deal older and very much 
more business-like. 

He came forward briskly and rested one hand 
on the chair Katharine had just vacated. 

“Well, my dear, so this is the chair your 
father used,” he said gently. “ It’s a very hand- 
some chair.” 

“Yes, sir. The whole set, table, sideboard 
and all, were a Christmas present from my 
father to my mother,” replied Katharine, pleased 
with his admiration. We had quite plain oak 
things before.” 

“And you associate this chair with your 


8o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


father more than with any other in the house ? 
his reading-chair or loun^:iu 2 :-chair — something 
of that sort?” 

“Yes, sir. Almost the only times that 
father and I were alone together was during 
meals. Breakfast and dinner times were the 
nicest hours of the day to me,” and she sighed 
at the recollection. 

“ Then, little lass, yon must surely take the 
chair, along with the other things.” 

“ Oh, I couldn’t, thank you, sir,” replied 
Katharine quickly. “ It would spoil the set.” 

Mr. Brown could not keep from smiling at 
this matter-of-fact view of the case, but the 
girl’s common sense pleased him. He took hold 
of the chair and turned it over. 

“ This was bought in Chicago ? Ah, I 
thought so,” he added, as he caught sight of the 
maker’s name. “Well, then, it’s easy enough 
for me to have another made in its place. 
Nothing could be simpler.” 

“ But the expense it would put you to ! ” 
faltered Katharine. It was the very tiling that 
she had been wishing she herself could do. 

“ Oh, don’t worry over that, little lass,” he 
replied genially. “ A few dollars more or less 


A NEW FRIEND 


i8i 


won’t make such a difference, especially when 
it’s a question of giving a little girl happiness. 
It would make you happy, eh ? ” and he showed 
her the chair already marked down on his list. 

“ Oh, so very happy, sir, and grateful ! ” 

‘‘ Tut, tut. Never mind that part of it. 
Now, what else ? ” 

“ That’s all, sir.” 

“Eh? You’re very modest. Well, then, let 
me put down your name and address.” 

He took down her address, that of Dr. AVar- 
ren, as Katharine had no other to give, and 
offered to keep the articles until Mrs. Allen had 
some place to put them. Then he went with 
her to the door and understood the lingering 
glance she cast about her. 

“ Good-by, little lass,” he said. “ I hope it 
isn’t the last time we shall have the pleasure of 
seeing you here. Mrs. Brown and I are two 
lone old bodies, fond of being sociable, and 
nothing would make us happier than to have you 
drop in on us often and liven us up. If Mrs. 
Brown may, she would like to call upon Mrs. 
Allen at the hospital,” he added. “ Does your 
mother receive visitors yet ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, sir, and she would be very glad 


i 82 her FATHER’S LEGACY . 

indeed to see Mrs. Brown,” answered Katha- 
rine heartily, feeling that, if Mrs. Brown were 
anything like her husband, she would prove 
a friend worth having. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


ME. GKIGGS AND THE DOCTOE 

Now that the question of the house was fi- 
nally adjusted, Mrs. Allen began to chafe at the 
unsettled state of her own plans for the future. 
Her time at the hospital was within a month of 
completion and she wished to decide upon a resi- 
dence for the summer. She fretted so over the 
matter that the doctor counseled Katharine to 
take steps toward a decision. 

Thereupon Katharine determined to take the 
doctor into her confidence to the extent of dis- 
closing to him her scheme of going to Amsden 
with her mother to spend the summer. 

“ Indeed, we might live there always, if it 
proved practicable,” she added, when she had 
finished narrating her plan. 

“ Where did you say the place was ? ” asked 
the doctor, upon whose preoccupied mind Kath- 
arine’s words had not made a deep impression. 

Don’t you remember, when my father’s will 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


184 

was read,” she reminded him, “ there was men- 
tion made of some land he owned in Ohio ? ” 

“ Yes, I recollect. He took it in payment of 
a debt.” 

“Yes. Well, I was wondering why mother 
and I couldn’t go there to spend the summer ? 
It would be quiet, we should be in our own 
house and I am sure it would be much nicer in 
every way than a summer boarding-house.” 

“ What do you know about the place ? ” 

“Not very much,” admitted Katharine. “I 
think there is a house, but that’s about all I do 
know.” 

“ But I thought the will described the place 
as ‘ waste land ’ or something of that sort,” ob- 
jected the doctor, trying to bring the words to 
his recollection. 

“ It did, I know. But you see the land (I’ve 
looked up the region in my geography) is in the 
midst of a farming district, and I think father 
must have meant by waste, that it just wasn’t 
cultivated. It is only two hours’ railway jour- 
ney from Lima, Ohio, on the outskirts from this 
village called Amsden.” 

“But how do you know there is a house ? ” 

“ I saw a little plan or sketch that Mr. Griggs 


MR. GRIGGS AND THE DOCTOR 185 

liad of the place. There was a house drawn on 
that and it looked like a pretty good-sized one.” 

“ Is it in repair ? And what about the house 
keeping ? And how is the climate ? ” 

“ Oh, I know there are dozens of things to be 
considered,” replied Katharine a little dolefully, 
“ and I don’t know how to find out about them. 
Mr. Griggs, who is the only one who knows, 
won’t tell.” 

“ W on’t tell. Why not ? ” asked the doctor 
in surprise, wheeling in his chair. 

“ Well, he says there’s nothing to tell. He de 
dares it is worthless and urges mother to sell.” 

“ Sell it ? Who’s the buyer ? ” 

“ Why, Mr. Griggs has offered to buy it in 
himself, to take it off mother’s hands. He told 
her that she was just paying out taxes on it with- 
out getting any return.” 

“Well, that’s so,” commented the doctor. 
“ Unless you carry out this scheme of spending 
the summer there. I’ll see your friend Mr. 
Griggs and have a talk with him about it. But 
don’t mention the subject to your mother until 
we come to some decision. I don’t want her 
upset with uncertainties.” 

Katharine thanked him but hesitated. She 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


1 86 

wondered if she ought not to have taken him 
more completely into her confidence, and told 
him her suspicions concerning the lawyer. But 
'an open discussion of the subject seemed like 
! making a direct accusation, and that she did not 
want to do — yet. 

^ “ Come, come,” said the doctor briskly. 

“ Don’t worry over it so. I’ll see Mr. Griggs 
at the first opportunity. In the meantime, take 
that pucker off your forehead and keep it off,” 
and he pressed away with his forefinger the 
crease between Katharine’s puzzled eyes. 

The doctor was as good as his word, and the 
following morning knocked at the door of Mr. 
Griggs’ office. That gentleman did not appear 
particularly glad to see him. He greeted him 
affably, however, waved him to a chair and 
waited to hear what he had to say. The doctor, 
having neither time nor reason for beating about 
the bush, stated at once the object of his 
visit. 

“ I’ve come, Mr. Griggs,” he said pleasantly, 
“ to have a look at the plan of Mrs. Allen’s 
land. The land mentioned in the late Mr. 
Allen’s will, you remember.” 

“ I remember. Did Mrs. Allen authorize you 


MR. GRIGGS AND THE DOCTOR 187 

to come here upon that errand ? ” asked the 
lawyer with a cool impertinence which the doc- 
tor either failed or refused to see. 

“Bless your heart, no. She doesn’t know 
anything about it,” he replied cheerfully. “ Y ou 
see, we’re wondering if the place would do at 
all for Mrs. Allen to spend the summer in — for 
economy’s sake, you know.” 

Honesty — at least the naked truth of it — is 
not always the best policy. Dear, warm-heart- 
ed, honest, unbusiness-like old doctor ! Here, 
in the opening sentences of his interview he had 
blundered cheerfully into the very last thing 
Katharine would have had him say. If Mr. 
Griggs found out that she was meditating a step 
that would persuade Mrs. Allen not to sell the 
land, he would surely discover a way of prevent- 
ing her ! 

Mr. Griggs shot a shrewd side-glance at the 
doctor, and then sat tapping the desk with his 
finger-tips, responding to the other’s speech with 
only a reflective “ Hum.” Finally he looked 

up- 

“You say ‘we’ are thinking of it,” he re- 
marked. “ I suppose you refer to your very 
estimable colleague. Dr. James?” 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Oh, doctor, doctor, what a chance for an 
exercise of diplomacy ? Why can’t you bow 
gravely and say: ‘I am sure Dr. James will 
agree with whatever I decide in the matter.’ 
But no, he must needs tell the truth once more. 

“ By ‘ we ’ I mean Mrs. Allen’s clever, wise 
little daughter. Miss Kate and I have come to 
the conclusion that the idea is a very good one.” 

Indeed. And just what is the idea ? ” 

“ Why, for Kate and her mother to spend the 
summer at this place, to be sure.” 

“ Ah ! And what are your reasons for believ- 
ing the idea to be a good one ? ” 

“ Mrs. Allen must go somewhere out of the 
city for the hot months. If they could go to 
this place it would save the expenses of a sum- 
mer resort. With one servant they would be 

very comfortable in the little house ” 

“ House ? ”- interrupted Mr. Griggs. “ What 
house ? ” 

“Why,” said the doctor, surprised at his 
ignorance on this point, “ there is a house on 
the property. Kate said she saw one marked 
on the plan.” 

So ! Miss Kate had a good memory as well 
as a quick eye ! It was very clever of her to 


MR. GRIGGS AND THE DOCTOR 189 

have allied the doctor to her cause. Not that 
Mr. Griggs minded particularly, for the doctor 
would be an easy antagonist. He wondered 
how much Katharine had told him. Not all, 
he was convinced. He affected to ransack his 
memory. 

“ I recollect that there was some sort of shel- 
ter indicated in the sketch,” he replied carelessly. 

“ It is to ascertain how much of a house, and 
whether it is habitable, that I called to see you 
to-day,” went on the doctor. ‘‘ Just let me have 
a look at your drawing.” He was beginning to 
chafe under the covert insolence of the other’s 
manner. 

“ What does Mrs. Allen think of the scheme ? ” 
asked Mr. Griggs without moving. 

“She knows nothing of it,” repeated the 
doctor impatiently. “We don’t wish to men- 
tion the idea to her at all until we know more 
about it ourselves and can learn whether it is 
practicable.” 

“ Ah!” 

That was what the lawyer wished. To have 
Mrs. Allen kept in ignorance of the plan. He 
felt convinced that it would not be carried 
through. 


90 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


The doctor gave a hurried glance at his watch. 

“ My time is up,” he exclaimed, rising. 
“ Come, Griggs, the paper.” 

“ I am very sorry not to be able to oblige 
you, doctor,” replied the lawyer coolly and un- 
expectedly. “ But the fact is, I haven’t that 
plan just now in my possession. I lent it to a 
man who is thinking something about buying 
the land.” 

“ Buying the land ! ” ejaculated the doctor in 
astonishment. 

“I have Mrs. Allen’s authorization to sell 
that land at the first good opportunity,” said 
the lawyer. “Miss Kate did not tell you 
that?” 

“ She said something about it,” answered the 
doctor vaguely. “ She said that you had advised 
Mrs. Allen to sell the land, but she gave me the 
impression that you were to be the purchaser.” 

A shade of annoyance darkened the lawyer’s 
face but his manner was unruffled. 

“ I offered to buy it in — as a personal favor,” 
he said suavely. 

“ But Mrs. Allen would not accept the sacri- 
fice.” 

“ Then why should any one else wish the land, 


MR. GRIGGS AND THE DOCTOR 191 

if it is such a sacrifice?” queried the doctor 
sharply. 

Mr. Griggs waved his hand airily. 

“ The price is moderate and a temptation to 
the farmers who own land adjoining,” he said in 
an off-hand way that quieted the doctor’s suspi- 
cions instantly. 

“ Oh, so it’s a farmer who’s bidding,” he said, 
taking up his hat. “ Well, Mr. Griggs, don’t 
hasten the negotiations. Give us time to think 
more of our little plan. Good morning,” and 
shaking the lawyer cordially by the hand, the 
doctor hastened away to attend to his own 
concerns. 

Mr. Griggs smiled as he reseated himself at 
his desk. It was not a pleasant smile. It was 
sly, crafty, insincere — in fact it betrayed the 
man’s real character. It also portrayed the 
satisfaction he felt at the favorable ending of 
what had threatened to be dangerous catechism. 

In truth, the sketch was not in the hands of 
a friend at all, but locked securely away in his 
own safe. Mr. Griggs had in mind no buyer for 
the land other than himself. He had fully made 
up his mind to possess that piece of property 
marked “ waste land ” in his late client’s will, 


192 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


certain inquiries of his own having convinced 
him that it was far from worthless. Indeed, he 
regarded the land as so certainly his that the 
doctor’s request to examine a plan of it had 
appeared in the light of an impertinence. 

At present he could not afford to buy the 
property — not even at the moderate amount set 
by Mrs. Allen as its face value. His own affairs 
were for the time being too involved to enable 
him to command a sufficient sum of ready money. 

But he did not feel in any haste. That Kath- 
rine discredited his motives he knew, but the 
fact did not give him any concern. He set no 
value on a schoolgirl’s suspicions. And at no 
time did he intend to reveal the identity of the 
purchaser. 


CHAPTER XIX 


KATHAKIXE^S USTSPIRATION 

Katharine was dismayed at the result of the 
doctor’s call upon Mr. Griggs. Indeed, not only 
had he failed to learn more regarding the Ohio 
property, but he had disclosed to the lawyer their 
purpose. She feared that this meant an end to 
all her hopes and plans. She despaired of foil- 
ing the lawyer’s determination to become pos- 
sessed of the disputed land, and abandoned her 
idea of moving to Amsden for the summer. 

And yet Mr. Griggs did not act. Each day 
she visited the hospital with the sickening dread 
that she would be greeted with the news that 
the land was sold. In that event, whatever 
name should be given, she would have no doubt 
as to the real purchaser. 

But the weeks passed and no such announce- 
ment was made. It did not occur to her that 

13 193 


194 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Mr. Griggs’ delay was occasioned by a lack of 
ready money. The lawyer had always impressed 
Katharine, and her mother as well, as being a 
rich man. 

Time went on and nothing was done. June 
was approaching and Mrs. Allen grew so im- 
patient to settle their plans for the summer that 
Katharine began to answer newspaper adver- 
tisements for cheap country board. 

But as the lawyer still took no active steps in 
the matter of a purchase, Katharine’s hopes began 
to revive. She might be able to save the prop- 
erty yet. At least she felt that longer uncer- 
tainty was unbearable and determined to do 
something to bring matters to a climax. If she 
were not so completely in the dark, action would 
be easier. If she could go to Amsden and see 
for herself how matters stood ! 

“ Of course ! That was the very thing to do ! 
Why had she not thought of it before ? The 
idea came to her as an inspiration and she re- 
solved to carry it out without further loss of 
time. 

As she went over the matter seriously, she 
realized how many diJfficulties stood in the way 
— insuperable difficulties they seemed at first. 


KATHARINE’S INSPIRATION 195 

But she was not easily discouraged and set res- 
olutely about carrying out her design. 

As a beginning she procured time-tables of 
all the railroads leading east out of Chicago, and 
studied them in secret. . Having finally mastered 
the ups and downs of their columns with the 
mystifying to’s and from’s ; a. m.’s and p. jm.’s 
she learned that in order to reach Amsden, she 
must stop overnight somewhere on the way — 
preferably at Lima. This would necessitate her 
absence from home for three days. But she 
was nothing daunted. 

‘‘ I don’t mind going to a hotel by myself,” 
she refiected. “ It won’t be pleasant, but I’m 
not afraid.” 

However, a time came when she could no 
longer act alone. She had no money to pay for 
the journey. How was she to get it ? She 
could not ask her mother for it. That would 
mean a disclosure of all her plans, with their 
accompanying doubts and suspicions, thereby 
creating disturbances that Mrs. Allen was far 
from strong enough to bear. Moreover, since 
her discovery of the part her mother had played 
in the scheme of obtaining the title deed, 
Katharine had carefully avoided any mention 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


to Mrs. Allen of the subject of the Amsden 
property. 

To whom, then, could she turn for assistance ? 
She had rather vague ideas of how much the 
journey would cost, but was in hopes that she 
might earn the money. 

There was Mr. Phelps. He might have some 
sermons for her to copy. But that was slow 
work and the amount gained would be too 
small. 

She went over her little stock of personal 
belongings on the chance of there being 
something that she could sell. A few books, 
treasures of her childhood and dog-eared accord- 
ingly ; two really handsome brooches and her 
cherished gold watch and chain. But all these 
her father had given her and nothing could in- 
duce her to part with them. 

She might borrow the sum of the doctor. She 
felt some delicacy about doing that lest his gen- 
erous heart should urge it as a gift. That, es- 
pecially after all the kindness and hospitality 
for which she was already indebted to him, she 
could not accept. 

What, then, was there left for her to do ? 
She was pondering this question, feeling rather 



SHE DARTED INTO THE STREET 


















KATHARINE'S INSPIRATION 197 

dowD at heart, one afternoon, on her way from 
the school to the hospital when an answer to her 
query came in a most unexpected manner. 

Although June had already begun, that fickle 
month seemed either to have forgotten her 
identity or to have gone backward in her cal- 
culations, for a wind as high and chill and 
riotous as any March could produce, was 
dashing uproariously through the streets and 
creating general havoc among head-gear. 

As Katharine turned the corner, she beheld a 
portly old gentleman coming down the street 
at a pathetic dog-trot, in pursuit of a wildly 
careening silk hat which appeared to have taken 
upon itself all the youthful capers of a paper 
cap. 

Recognizing the pursuer and his predicament 
in one and the same instant, Katharine darted 
out into the street with the speed and directness 
of a swallow, bent over and captured the truant 
hat and regained the sidewalk just as its dis- 
tressed owner came trotting up, puffing out his 
maledictions and thanks in a breath — or rather, 
lack of breath. The next moment he recognized 
Katharine as she stood before him, clinging to 
his hat with one hand, with the other grasp- 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


ing her strap of books and at the same time try- 
ing to prevent her own pretty turban from leav- 
ing its resting-place on her golden head. She 
made a very pretty picture as she swayed in 
graceful inclination to the wind, her cheeks all 
rose-color, her blue eyes dark and shining with 
laughter and the whole framed in a radiant oval 
of bright golden hair. 

“ Why, bless my soul ! ” ejaculated the old 
gentleman, taking out his handkerchief and 
mopping vigorously at his countenance, stained 
a deep purplish red by his gymnastic exertions. 

“ Bless my soul if it isn’t little Miss Katharine 
Allen! Well, well!” 

He held out both his hands into the left one 
of which Katharine placed the rescued hat and 
then gave the right a hearty shake. 

“ I am glad I got here just in time, Mr. 
Brown,” she said merrily. “You would never 
have caught it by yourself.” 

“No, I never should,” acknowledged Mr. 
Brown, glancing down at the roughened silk in 
his hand. “ It galloped and frisked like a very 
will-o-the-wisp.” 

He commenced to smooth down the ruffled . 
nap by stroking the hat against his coat sleeve. 


KATHARINE’S INSPIRATION 


199 


His breath still came in short pulfs and his poor 
old knees trembled stiffly. Just then an elderly 
lady, quite as portly and even more jolly-look- 
ing than Mr. Brown himself, save that her face 
was at present clouded with anxiety, came bus- 
tling up to them. She had remained at the bot- 
tom of the hospital steps, where the mishap oc- 
curred, with clasped hands and parted lips 
watching with eyes of fixed terror the gyrations 
of her husband. Save for an occasional jerk 
backward to keep herself from tipping over 
into the gutter, she had stood immovable on the 
edge of the curb until she was finally convinced 
that a helping hand had been lent, and that Mr. 
Brown, was safe. Then she waddled anxiously 
down the pavement to join them. 

“ Oh, Anthony dear, I thought every second 
you’d be stricken down with apoplexy. Why 
couldn’t you have let the hat go?” she ex- 
claimed reprovingly, scanning his flushed face 
for serious symptoms. 

“ Let it go ! ” cried Mr. Brown explosively. 
“ Not run after my hat ! Why, you might just 
as well tell a small boy not to run after a fire- 
engine ! It’s an instinct of human nature, my 
dear, an instinct of human nature ! Though I 


200 


Her FATHER’S legacy 


grant I should never have captured it if it had 
not been for our kind little friend here. My 
dear,” he added, turning to Katharine, ‘‘ this is 
Mrs. Brown. It is Katharine Allen, Mary,” he 
explained to his wife, who promptly kissed 
Katharine heartily on both cheeks. 

We have just been to see your mother, my 
dear,” she said, “and have had a most charming 
visit. She is going to drive with me to-morrow.” 

“ How kind of you. Thank you ! ” stam- 
mered Katharine, overcome by this amiability. 

“ And we left a message for you,” put in Mr. 
Brown, “ little thinking we’d come upon you in 
this most opportune manner. You and your 
little friend Alice are to dine with us on Friday 
evening at half -past six. You remember I 
asked you to come to cheer up two lone old 
bodies,” he added with a shadow of reproach 
in his genial old face. 

“Oh, sir, if I had known you really wanted 
me, I should have been glad to come long ago, 
cried Katharine earnestly. 

“ But you are sure of it now, aren’t you, my 
dear ? ” asked Mrs. Brown. “ Come and adopt 
us as grandparents.” 

Mrs. Brown had heard of little else but Kath- 


KATHARINE’S INSPIRATION 2ot 


arine Allen and her praises from her husband 
ever since he had made the girl’s acquaintance. 
She was fond of young people’s society and 
was eager to adopt his little friend. Katharine’s 
simple, gracious manner, with its complete lack of 
self-consciousness, impressed her most favorably. 

After a few more words, Katharine, accepting 
their kind invitation for Alice and herself, took 
leave of Mr. and Mrs. Brown and continued her 
way to the hospital. She found her mother in 
high good spirits. The visit of the old couple 
had pleased Mrs. Allen greatly. She realized 
that their acquaintance was worth having and 
their friendship to be desired. Therefore she 
had dropped all her invalidism and exerted her- 
self to be agreeable. And Mrs. Allen could be 
very charming when she chose. 

Katharine related with stirring details the 
chase and capture of Mr. Brown’s hat, at which 
her mother laughed more heartily and genuinely 
than she had for years. Mrs. Allen then told 
her of the dinner invitation and they discussed 
their new friends for a little time. 

But Katharine lapsed into absent-mindedness 
presently and seemed anxious to be gone. 

“ Are your lessons harder than usual to-day ? ” 


202 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


asked her mother, wondering at her restlessness. 
“I hope you will be able to keep your mind 
on them,” she added, scanning her daughter’s 
flushed face and shining eyes a little curiously. 
“You should not allow an invitation to dinner 
to excite you so.” 

But it was not the anticipation of a dinner 
party that brought the deep color to Katharine’s 
cheeks, or lent wings to her feet as she sped 
away to her books. A sudden thought had 
come to her — a way of accomplishing that pur- 
pose upon which she had set her heart so firmly 
and yet which had begun to seem impossible 
of achievement. Now that the idea had oc- 
curred to her, she wondered why she had not 
thought of it before. She would go to Mr. 
Brown, confide to him the whole story, and rely 
on him for ways and means to carry out her 
ardent wish to visit Amsden and see for herself 
that piece of “ waste land ” which Mr. Griggs’ 
anxiety to possess, combined with those chance 
words she had overheard in the lawyer’s study, 
had wrapped in so deep a fold of mystery. 

So sure was she of Mr. Brown’s power and 
willingness to settle all her difficulties that 
already she saw herself on her journey, saw that 


KATHARINE’S INSPIRATION 203 

journey successfully accomplislied and herself 
returning triumphant to report Mr. Griggs’ per- 
jury and her own discovery — of what ? 

At this point of her reflections it is to be 
feared that Katharine’s clear-headedness deserted 
her and her excited brain soared high up into 
the brightest of fancy’s realms. The “waste 
land ” in northern Ohio was converted into a 
veritable fairyland, with caves of marvelous 
treasures, of the entrance to which only she knew 
the “ open sesame.” A gold mine was incident- 
ally discovered in one corner of the enchanted 
ground, which was worked with miraculous 
speed and out of the proceeds was erected the 
self-same Aladdin’s palace in the midst of a 
magniflcent park, upon which Mrs. Allen had 
cast such scornful bucketfuls of cold water. 

She tried in vain to bring her thoughts back 
to her lessons. Her problems resolved them- 
selves into: “If it takes eight hours to reach 
Lima, how many acres make a gold mine ? ” 
Her Latin was just as bad. “Caesar broke 
camp at dawn and crossed the Ohio River to 
Amsden.” She declined Mr. Brown instead of 
“ dominus ” and wrote a composition on “ The 
Unraveling of the Time-Table.” 


204 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


After an hour or so of such excited fancies 
she brought herself, with an effort, back to prac- 
tical facts, and taking out her time-tables again, 
made a few notes on the margins. She did not 
intend to borrow the money for the journey from 
Mr. Brown if she could help it. But if he 
could think of no way in which she might earn 
a large sum of money quickly, why, she would 
rather accept the loan from him than from the 
doctor, who already had so many claims upon his 
purse. 


CHAPTER XX 


SEEKING ADVICE 

Kathakine was prevented from carrying out 
her plan of calling upon Mr. Brown for some 
time. The school examinations kept her time 
and mind fully occupied for the next two 
weeks. Then, Mrs. Allen insisted upon a 
definite arrangement of summer plans. Fortu- 
nately, so far June had been cool and Mrs. Allen 
had been content to wait for the ultimate deci- 
sion as to their summer home. Before she de- 
cided finally, Katharine determined to make a 
final effort to carry out her private plan to visit 
Amsden. 

Her faith in Mr. Brown was justified. When 
she called to see him he came bustling down to 
the drawing-room with genial hospitality, filled 
with regret that Mrs. Brown was not at home, 
but insisting upon her sitting down to wait 

until she got back. In the same breath he be- 

205 


2o6 her FATHER’S LEGACY 

thought himself of his books and conducted her 
up-stairs to see his library. This room was the 
one over the dining-room. In Katharine’s time 
it had been a stupid enough place, handsomely 
but stiffly furnished. It was known as the 
guest room, but no guest had ever occupied it, 
and it was never entered except by the maid for 
the weekly cleaning. 

Now it was transformed. The walls were 
hung with rich, dark red paper. The many 
chairs and couches in the room were covered 
with leather of the same warm color. A low 
broad seat had been built around the sides of 
the bay window and heaped with gay cushions. 
In the center of the room was a wide,- heavy 
table upon which lay all magazines and books 
of the day, while over by the fireplace stood 
another table, low and white and covered with 
tea-things. Each end of the bay-window con- 
tained a desk, one small, handsomely carved and 
laid with dainty silver articles ; the other large, 
pigeon-holed and practical. As for the books 
themselves, there must be thousands of them, 
Katharine thought, as she looked about her in 
a maze of bewildered delight. The walls were 
lined with cases, so high up that a short ladder 


SEEKING ADVICE 


207 


was needed to reached the topmost shelves. 
She turned to her host with shining eyes. 

“You must have a copy of every book that 
was ever printed ! ” she exclaimed. 

Mr. Brown chuckled. 

“ I have a good many of ’em,’’ he admitted. 
“But they’re fearfully mixed up,” he added 
with the regret of a collector. “When we 
moved in they were stuck into the shelves in 
any sort of order. I’ve weeded out the business 
volumes and put them by themselves,” he in- 
dicated a case of thick, bulky tomes bound in 
calfskin, “but the whole library needs going 
over and re-arranging. I want it catalogued, 
too.” 

“ Oh,” cried Katharine, “ I wish you’d let me 
do it for you. I should love to ! ” 

“ You shall then. It would be an excellent 
way of earning a little pin-money,” he responded 
in a matter-of-fact tone. “ See what I did the 
other day,” he added quickly, without giving 
Katharine time to remonstrate and he led her 
to a case at the end of the room. It was filled 
with sets of Scott, Dickens, Charlotte M. Yonge, 
Miss Alcott, and all the authors so dear to girls’ 
hearts. 


2o8 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


‘‘ I got those ready for you,” he said trium- 
phantly. ‘‘You’re to come here whenever you 
can spare the time and plunge into them.” 

Katharine gave an ecstatic “ oh ” and changed 
color. If only she could sit right down in the 
low easy chair which stood in front of the case 
and dip into “ The Heart of Midlothian ” with 
Jeanie Deans, or climb to the heights with 
“ Peveril of the Peak ! ” 

But her own business was too important and 
absorbing to be put into the background, and 
after thanking Mr. Brown for his thoughtful- 
ness and kindness, she told the real reason of 
her visit. 

When Mr. Brown heard that she had come 
on business he was mystified. 

“ I should like very much to talk over a 
matter that has been worrying me a good deal, 
and to ask your advice about it,” she said ear- 
nestly, “ if you are sure I shall not be taking too 
much of your time.” 

The retired banker declared his entire free- 
dom of time and willingness to hear her story. 

“ I shall be only too glad to help you in any 
matter, to the utmost of my power, little Miss 
Kate, and I feel fiattered that you have chosen 


SEEKING ADVICE 


209 


to honor me with your confidence. Come, take 
off your hat and coat, try all the chairs in the 
room till you find a comfortable one, and then 
sit down and tell me all about it. We shan’t be 
disturbed here.” 

Then Katharine told the whole story, begin- 
ning with the reading of her father’s will, the 
mention of the waste land that her father had 
taken as a bad debt ; how she had glanced over 
the plan of the ground and had wondered at its 
being considered useless in so good a farming 
region, and only two hours’ railway journey 
from the thriving little city of Lima. She re- 
lated the conversation that she had overheard 
in the lawyer’s study ; her subsequent suspi- 
cions upon learning that Mr. Griggs had advised 
her mother to sell the land, offering himself as 
a purchaser. She went back to her interview 
with Mr. Griggs over the right of possession of 
the document enclosed with the package of 
letters and how, after learning the nature of 
this document, she had looked for it and found 
it gone. 

“ He has evidently made up his mind to own 
that land,” she said in conclusion, “ and I don’t 
understand why he has not bought it already, 
14 


210 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


though I am thankful for the delay. No, he 
would never want to buy it unless there was 
some chance of a big bargain.” 

“ Has your mother consented to his buying 
it?” 

“ She has consented to his selling it to some 
one else. She is not willing to allow him to 
make a personal sacrifice, as she considers it 
would be, for her sake. But she likes Mr. 
Griggs and believes in him.” 

“ Which you don’t,” commented Mr. Brown 
with a smile. 

“No, I don’t,” admitted Katharine frankly. 
“ I’m afraid I have no very good reason to give 
for my feeling, but I don’t trust him. And it 
does seem very queer that he should have got- 
ten my mother to take that deed. I didn’t know 
what it was or I would have taken better care 
of it.” 

Then suddenly a new thought occurred to 
her. 

“You don’t think he means to — to take the 
land without paying for it, do you ? ” she asked. 

Mr. Brown shook his head. 

“ I think you have good ground for your 
suspicions,” he replied slowly, “but I doubt if 


SEEKING ADVICE 


2II 


Mr. Griggs would go so far. He could not do 
that without being found out. But, you see, 
that paper was absolutely essential to any 
negotiations for the property, and legally, your 
mother had a perfect right to the document be- 
cause you are not yet eighteen.” 

“ I see,” said Katharine. “ But it is hard to 
understand what Mr. Griggs could have said to 
get mother to send for it that way, when she 
knew I wouldn’t be home, instead of asking me 
for it right out. 

‘‘ Mr. Griggs knew that I didn’t want mother 
to sell,” she went on. “ I had been talking to 
him a good deal about it, trying to find out 
things. I had an idea that perhaps mother and 
I might go there to spend the summer. There 
is a house on the place and I thought we’d be 
more comfortable than at a small summer board- 
ing-house. Indeed, it was to ask you to help 
me carry out this plan that I’ve come.” 

At this Mr. Brown’s face fell. He too, had 
been making summer plans. Up at Macinac, 
on the shores of the lake, there stood a palatial 
residence, occupied from June to October by 
only the banker and his wife. The arched hall- 
ways and broad rooms fairly ached with the 


212 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

void which should have been filled with the gay 
voices of young people. It had been the idea 
of Mr. and Mrs. Brown to invite Katharine and 
her mother there for the summer, thus giving 
them the advantages of a comfortable home 
amid lake breezes, and at the same time grati- 
fying their own enjoyment in companionship. 
They had been so assured of the acceptance of 
this invitation that they had foreseen their guests 
already installed at “ Lakeside” and had even 
assigned them their rooms — a little suite with 
its own bath and boudoir. 

But Mr. Brown said nothing of all this now. 
He put aside his own hopes and desires and 
appeared interested only in Katharine’s pro- 
ject. 

‘^What will you have me do?” he asked 
kindly. 

“Why, you see,” replied Katharine slowly, 
speaking with hesitation now that the important 
moment had come, “ I thought — I want very 
much — to go there and see the place for my- 
self ! ” 

The great secret was told and she was sur- 
prised that Mr. Brown was not more over- 
whelmed. That he seemed impressed with the 


SEEKING ADVICE 


213 


good sense of the idea was evident, but he did 
not appear at all concerned with the enormity of 
the undertaking. 

An excellent idea — most excellent ! ” he 
ejaculated, rubbing his hands approvingly. 
“ And I should advise you to start off at once.” 

“ But I can’t,” objected Katharine. “ That’s 
just the point. There are so many things in the 
way.” 

“ Things in the way ! Bless me, what things 
are in the way ? Surely nothing of any impor- 
tance ! ” 

“ But yes, sir, there are several very impor- 
tant ” Katharine was beginning when Mr. 

Brown, who apparently had not heard her, 
went on, pursuing the train of his own thought : 

“ To be sure, you wouldn’t want to leave your 
mother just now. But then what town did 
you say the place was near ? Lima ? ” 

“ Yes, sir, pretty near.” 

‘‘ Well, well, that’s simple enough. You could 
go on one day and come back the next. You’d 
only be away t^vo days — perhaps not all of 
that if you could leave on an afternoon. Eh ? 
Let’s see if there are any time-tables in the news- 
paper to help us.” 


214 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


He got up and bustled over to the big center 
table. Katharine rose too, tugging at her 
pocket. 

I have time-tables here, sir,” she said. 
“ Whole stacks of them. But it wasn’t being 
aw^ay that was my difficulty. I could easily be 
spared as Miss Coatlee is still with my mother. 
But there are three quite big obstacles in the 
way.” 

“ Dear me. And what are they ? ” asked Mr. 
Brown, amused at her serious tone. 

“ My mother’s permission, Mr. Griggs and — 
money.” She hesitated so long over the last 
word that it nearly slipped back into her throat 
again. 

“ Hum. AVell, we’ll take them in the order 
of their naming. Why does your mother ob- 
ject ? Afraid to have you travel alone ? I’m 
sure you’d get on much better than many women 
twice your age I’ve seen going about by them- 
selves.” 

Oh, yes, sir. I could get on all right. It 
isn’t that. But you see, mother doesn’t know 
anything about it. I didn’t want to suggest the 
idea to her, and have her wondering and worry- 
ing and fretting over it until I knew there was 


SEEKING ADVICE 


215 


some cliance of carrying it out. And besides^ 
I’m afraid, if she knew about it, she’d tell Mr. 
Griggs.” 

‘‘ And he would object ? ” 

I believe he would go to almost any length 
to prevent me,” replied Katharine with such 
depth of conviction in her tone that Mr. Brown 
was astonished. 

“So you want to slip off without either of 
them knowing it ? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” answered Katharine reddening. 
His question sounded a little as if he thought 
her action not entirely straightforward. 

Mr. Brown did not speak for some minutes. 
He was going over the case carefully in his 
mind. Katharine sat watching him with anxious 
eyes. Was he disappointed in her? Did he 
think her sly or underhand ? He would not 
think so if he knew Mr. Griggs. Oh, she 
hoped he would not misjudge her ! She was 
astonished but relieved to hear him break sud- 
denly forth into a delighted chuckle. 

“ Capital ! ” he exclaimed. “ Capital ! A 
conspiracy in which a young girl is to outwit a 
lawyer ! Ha, ha, ha ! ” 

“ Oh, don’t call it quite such a hard name,” 


2i6 her FATHER’S LEGACY 

she pleaded. “I don’t want to do anything 
wrong ! ” 

“ Wrong ? No, indeed. Conspiracies aren’t 
always wrong, my dear. Not when they are 
diplomatic, as ours will be. I haven’t thought 
of a way yet, but we’ll manage it.” 

Katharine felt reassured. The “ we” of his 
last remark was very comforting. 


CHAPTER XXI 


MR. BROWN SOLVES THE DIFFICULTY 

Mr. Brown smiled across at her benignly. 

“By our united efforts,” he said cheerfully, 
“ we’ll outwit the lawyer and unravel the mys- 
tery.” 

“But there is the third obstacle,” Katharine 
reminded him. “ I was wondering if you could 
suggest some way for me to earn enough money 
to make the journey.” 

A girl of sixteen to earn thirty-five or forty 
dollars in a day or two ! The practical old 
man of business nearly smiled. But he replied 
gravely : 

“ I’rn afraid not, my dear. At least, I can 
think of nothing just at present by which you 
can earn the money all at once. And you 
would need it very soon. Isn’t there some 
danger of Mr. Griggs selling the land ? ” 

,“ Oh, there is. Or of buying it himself,” re- 

217 


2i8 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


plied Katharine quickly. “ I must go at once 
if I would save it.” 

“AVell, then, bring out your time-tables 
and we’ll settle the question of money later. 
Haven’t you any friends who would be will- 
ing to trust you with a loan ? ” he added with a 
twinkle in his eye. 

“ But I didn’t want to borrow it if I could 
help,” objected Katharine. ‘‘You see, I don’t 
know when I’d be able to pay it back.” 

“Eh? Ah, well. Never mind. Where are 
the time-tables ? ” 

Katharine spread them out on the table, all 
folded and marked at the proper places. She 
laid beside them the notes she had made, con- 
cerning connections, stops for refreshments, and 
so forth. AVell pleased at such a display of 
business method, Mr. Brown bent over the 
printed figures, studying them intently. 

“ Hum,” he said, looking up at length. 
“ Trains aren’t very obliging as to the connec- 
tions, are they ? ” 

“ I should have to stay all night at Lima,” 
replied Katharine, “ and leave there about ten 
in the morning, reaching Amsden at two. Then, 
you see,” turning a leaf of the folder, “ there is 


THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED 


219 


a train going back to Lima at four-thirty. 
That would give me, if my train were on time, 
two hours and a half in which to visit the land 
and find out all I want to know about it.” 

“Yes, that seems about the only way to man- 
age it,” agreed Mr. Brown, following with keen 
eyes the tracing of her nimble finger among the 
columns. “ But I don’t like your spending those 
two nights alone at Lima. It — ah ! Ha, ha, 
ha ! What an old duffer I was not to have 
thought of it at once ! ” he ejaculated abruptly. 

Katharine stared at him in astonishment. 

Mr. Brown was so overcome with his new 
thought that he had to get up and walk about 
the room, giving vent to his delight by an 
intermittent chuckle, punctuated with occasional 
slaps on the thigh. Katharine was quite will- 
ing to wait for his revelation. She realized 
that in some way a solution of the problem had 
come to her benefactor and she was content. 
At last the details of the idea seemed to have 
been satisfactorily thought out, for Mr. Brown 
sat down again and took out his handkerchief 
to mop his brow, wet with excitement. 

“ Now, my dear, listen. I have it all pat. 
We’ll outwit ’em all, and in such a way that 


220 


HER FATHER^S LEGACY 


they’ll never so much as guess w^hat we’re about. 
Even the doctor needn’t be told.” 

Katharine had related the doctor’s interview 
with Mr. Griggs, and Mr. Brown guessed that 
he was not to be trusted with a secret. He had 
to have another chuckle over the shrewdness of 
his plan and then began gravely : 

‘‘ I have a nephew at Lima who manages a 
small bank there. I don’t know much about 
him, for his father and I — well, we didn’t get 
on well together in our youth. I didn’t see 
much of my bi’other after we left college, and 
we each married and went to different parts of 
the country to live. Our father died and left 
us equal shares of his fortune. I used mine for 
capital and — well, I’ve made a comfortable liv- 
ing out of it.” He paused to glance about him 
complacently. “ My brother squandered his 
money and died in poverty. I would have noth- 
ing to do with the son, supposing him like the 
father. But he came to me a few years ago and 
asked me for a position. I liked his looks and 
the way he talked, and gave him a place in my 
bank. He was so steady and saving that by 
the time I’d retired from the bank he’d put by 
quite a tidy little sum. With this I helped him 


THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED 


221 


to establish himself in a small town in Ohio 
where he had acquaintances, and where he has 
married and settled down very prosperously. 
His wife ” Then he suddenly broke off. 

“ Bless my soul, little lass,” he exclaimed, I 
didn’t mean to go off into this volume of family 
history ! Why didn’t you stop me ? Old folks 
are like children gathering flowers. When once 
they are turned loose in a field of reminiscences, 
they wander farther and farther, always pluck- 
ing ‘ just one more.’ 

“ To return, as the French say, to our muttons. 
My nephew wrote me the other day to inquire 
into several points of a legal character. I have 
some papers laid away that tell just what he 
wants to know. But as I value the documents 
highly I hesitated to entrust them to the mails. 
My intention was, either to make full and 
complete copies of the papers, or else write out 
such extracts as he would need. But now, the 
whole matter is as simple as Simon’s head ! ” 

Katharine looked as if she found the matter 
as obscure as ever. But she said a little hesi- 
tatingly : 

“You mean that I may do the copying for 
you ? ” 


222 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Bless your heart, no. It would take far too 
mucli time. I mean to make you my little man 
of business.” 

Katharine was puzzled but waited silently 
for further enlightenment. Mr. Brown was 
burrowing in his desk for something. Presently 
he returned with a neat package of papers, 
which he laid down on the table. 

“ I am going to send these papers to my 
nephew by you,” he said triumphantly. “ I am 
employing you as my agent. Do you see ? 
You are to deliver these papers to Ned, he will 
go over them, copy out what he wants and then 
you will bring them back. His wife will invite 
you to visit at their house and so you will escape 
the unpleasantness of being alone at a hotel.” 

Katharine’s face lighted up as she saw the 
many advantages of the plan. 

“ Oh, Mr. Brown, how good you are ! ” she 
cried. “ And too, it will gave me a good reason 

to tell mother for my absence. But ” she 

paused, flushing. 

Mr. Brown guessed the cause of her sudden 
hesitation and said quickly : 

“ When a man employs an agent for any pur- 
pose, he always pays all expenses, you know.” 


THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED 


223 


“ Oh, Mr. Brown, is that really so ? ” 

The old gentleman chuckled delightedly. 

“ That’s really so — honest in jun ! ” he said 
with mock earnestness. 

“ And not only are the agent’s expenses paid, 
but he expects a reward for his time as well. 
That will come to my agent in the shape of rail- 
road tickets to Amsden and back.” 

“ Oh, Mr. Brown, how very good you are ! ” 
cried Katharine again, quite overcome by this 
absolute settlement of all her worries. 

Mr. Brown had indeed solved the difficulty. 
Not only was her proposed journey made a 
possible achievement — indeed an assured fact — 
but it was to be made under the most comfort- 
able circumstances. There was to be a home 
to rest in by the way. Her mother would be 
satisfied as to the reason for her going and 
would awaken no suspicions in Mr. Griggs’ 
mind by speculating with him upon the journey. 
And last, but not least, there would be no dread- 
ful, embarrassing borrowing in the question. 

It was all almost too good to believe. Kath- 
arine felt like tossing up her hat and shouting 
like a boy for glee. Yet at the same time there 
was an odd tightening of the heart-strings, ac- 


224 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


companied by a strange desire to cry. A most 
unaccountable lump swelled up inside her throat 
and refused to be swallowed. 

“ Oh, Mr. Brown, how can I ever thank you 
enough, or show you how grateful I am ! ” 

Mr. Brown patted her on the head and his 
own eyes grew moist. 

“ There, there, little lass, don’t try,” he said 
huskily. You’ve thanked me in advance by 
coming to me with your trouble and trusting 
me. A little girl’s confidence is very precious 
to an old man, my dear.” 

“No one could help trusting you, sir,” ex- 
claimed Katharine earnestly. “ Or loving you 
either,” she added shyly. 

Mr. Brown looked fairly radiant. 

“ Bless my soul, what compliments ! ” he cried 
in great agitation, getting out his handkerchief 
again. “ Suppose you adopt me for an old 
granddaddy, eh ? — after this little business affair 
is finished,” he added with a great show of im- 
portance. 

Katharine laughed merrily as he had intended 
she should, and was beginning to speak again 
when the door suddenly opened and Mrs. Brown 
rustled in, full of mingled greetings and apob 


THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED 


225 


ogies. Mr. Brown laid a cautioning finger on 
his lips and Katharine gave a quick nod 
of comprehension as she rose to greet Mrs. 
Brown. 

That lady was charmed that Katharine had 
come and that Anthony had detained her so 
that she might share the pleasure of her visit. 
She would not hear of her going and urged her 
to stay and dine with them. 

Katharine had promised to spend the eve- 
ning with her mother, as Miss Coatlee was going 
out, so she was obliged to refuse, though very 
reluctantly. At any rate, Mrs. Brown declared 
that she must wait to have a cup of tea, which the 
maid was bringing right up. She presently 
came carrying a handsome tray of old Shef- 
field plate, set with a silver tea service and deli- 
cate cups of egg-shell china. There was a plate 
of crisp brown toast on the tray and a dish of 
delicious-looking little cakes. 

“ What have you two been talking about, my 
dear ? ” asked Mrs. Brown briskly, when she 
had learned how many lumps of sugar Kath- 
arine liked in her tea, and whether she took 
cream. 

Katharine looked a little confused at the ques- 


226 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


tion, remembering Mr. Brown’s warning finger, 
blit her voluble hostess did not wait for a reply. 
She asked another question, answering it her- 
self in the same breath and talked on, rapidly 
and animatedly, telling incidents of her shopping 
trip and mimicking the manners of various 
clerks until Katharine was fairly shaking with 
laughter. 

Mrs. Brown was both clever and witty and 
held her hearers in a delighted trance. When 
Katharine at last declared that she could not 
possibly eat any more cake, and that she really 
must go, she was dismayed to find it almost dusk 
outside. After she had spoken her farewells, 
Mr. Brown donned his coat and hat to accom- 
pany her. 

“ Please don’t,” begged Katharine. “ I can 
go perfectly well by myself. It is not a long 
walk for me but it might tire you.” 

“You are to go in the carriage,” put in Mrs. 
Brown, who had accompanied them down-stairs. 
“ I kept it when I heard you were here. I was 
in hopes I should have the privilege of sending 
a message to the doctor’s that you wouldn’t be 
home for dinner. I did not know about your 
other engagement.” 


THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED 


227 


Katharine repeated her thanks and good-bys 
and climbed into the waiting carnage beside 
Mr. Brown. 

“We hadn’t quite finished our business ar- 
rangements, you know,” he reminded her as 
they rolled swiftly along. 

Then they entered into a long discussion 
of the journey, the best time for its accom- 
plishment and how much of the plan it was 
advisable to tell Mrs. Allen. They decided 
that Katharine should go the following week, 
starting on Wednesday the 2d of July, and re- 
turning if possible the ensuing Friday. So you 
will get back in time to shoot off your fire- 
crackers,” he said gaily. 

Mrs. Allen was to be told that Mr. Brown 
had engaged her daughter to go upon some 
private business for him, carrying certain papers 
that he did not wish to entrust to the mail ; 
that she would remain over a day at his nephew’s 
house to rest, and return with the papers. 

By the time these matters were concluded, 
the doctor’s house ^vas reached, and making an 
appointment to meet Katharine at the hospi- 
tal for the purpose of telling Mrs. Allen the 
news, Mr. Brown drove back home, to write a 


228 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


very long letter to his nephew in Lima, and to 
chuckle over his clever plan of assisting Kath- 
arine to worst her enemy — for so he had come 
to regard the crafty, complacent, clever Mr. 
Griggs. 


CHAPTER XXII 


MRS. ALLEN” CON^SENTS 

The days that followed dragged with leaden 
feet. Katharine had very little to do to pre- 
pare for her journey. The nearer the time ap- 
proached for her departure, the more excited 
and apprehensive she grew. 

Alice was full of curiosity which Katharine 
found it difficult to satisfy. What had struck 
Mr. Brown to employ her as an agent? Was 
he going to pay her anything beside her ex- 
penses ? Wouldn’t she feel proud to earn money 
of her own and what would she spend it for if 
she got it? Wasn’t she afraid to travel alone, 
especially wdth the charge of valuable papers 
and what would she do if there was no one at 
the station in Lima to meet her ? 

To all of wdiich Katharine w^ould reply pa- 
tiently. Of course there would be no one to 
meet her at the station in Lima. It was a small 

town and she could easily find her way to the 

229 


230 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


house. The papers were too personal to tempt 
robbery, and she thought it rather fun to travel 
alone. As to the money, she would be very 
glad to have it to aid “ general expenses.” 

Thus did she answer all these questions and 
many more of the same sort. Mrs. W arren, after 
learning that Katharine was to be well-taken 
care of in Lima, approved of the plan as a begin- 
ning to the experiences which the girl must be 
expected to undergo in her future life of bat- 
tling with fortune. If the doctor suspected 
another and deeper motive behind the one given 
for. the journey, he said nothing about it and, 
unlike his daughter, asked no questions. 

When Katharine entered her mother’s room 
on the afternoon set by Mr. Brown for the dis- 
closing of their plan to Mrs. Allen, she found 
the invalid seated erect in her chair, her cheeks 
flushed and her whole bearing animated and in- 
terested. Little Madame Monee sat perched on 
the edge of a chair near by and the two were 
discussing tucks and shirrings in great absorp- 
tion. The sight of the little dressmaker brought 
back another scene to Katharine’s mind — a still, 
desolate house with one cool hushed room from 
which the sordid cares of life had vanished. 


MRS. ALLEN CONSENTS 


231 


“ Oil, my father ! ” whispered Katharine with 
a sudden rush of passionate longing, if only you 
could come back to your little girl ! Life is so 
hard to bear alone. The paths are so long and 
stony ! ” 

The rush of memories was so sudden and so 
vivid that for the moment she lost herself-con- 
trol and slipped out into the hall to recover her- 
self. 'No one had noticed her entrance or exit. 
They were too absorbed in their conversation. 
When she reentered, Madame Monee had risen 
and was gathering up her samples. 

“ That will be all for to-day,” Mrs. Allen was 
saying, “ and I’ll drop you a line when I’ve de- 
cided about the trimming for the crepe de chine. 
Ah, here’s Kate. Kate, let madame take your 
measures. She thinks you ought to wear your 
skirts a little longer now.” 

Madame Monee whipped out her tape, jotted 
down the figures and bustled away with an 
elaborate “ good day ” which included the ladies 
young and old. 

“ Mother,” said Katharine gravely, after she 
had gone, “ do you think it right to have 
Madame Monee for our clothes now ? Do you 
think we can afford it ? ” 


232 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

Mrs. Allen had been looking almost gay, 
But at these words her face clouded over and 
she pouted childishly, 

“My dear Kate,” she exclaimed, “are you 
going to turn into a miser ? Haven’t you any 
pride? Just because people are poor, must 
they get untidy and shabby ? ” 

“ I don’t think we need be shabby if we have 
a cheaper dressmaker,” remonstrated Katharine 
mildly. “ But I think we ought to remember 
that we are poor, and dress in less expensive 
things.” 

“Very well,” cried Mrs. Allen in a voice 
trembling on the verge of tears, “ I’ll write to 
madame and tell her not to send the things. 
I’ll give them all up ! I haven’t a decent rag 
to my back, and not a single thin black dress. 
I suppose that doesn’t make any difference to 
you, though. I dare say you’d be willing to put 
on colors again, if you thought it would save a 
dollar or two,” and Mrs. Allen sank back among 
her cushions and put her handkerchief to her 
eyes. 

“ Oh, mother, no ! Surely you know I 
wouldn’t do that ! ” cried Katharine hurt at her 
words. “ But I do think we could have our 


MRS. ALLEN CONSENTS 233 

clothes less expensively made, and fewer of 
them.” 

“ I had only ordered three gowns from 
madame. One can’t go in rags.” 

But aren’t there cheaper dressmakers ? 
Madame is so dreadfully expensive. I am sure 
there are plenty of cheaper ones who are good. 
W e might buy nice materials and have a woman 
come to sew by the day ” 

“ Never ! ” cried Mrs. Allen violently. “ I’ll 
countermand all my orders to Madame Monee 
and roast in winter clothes. But I’ll not budge 
out of my room. I’ll never be seen on the 
street in clothes made in the house ! ” and she 
began to sob. 

Katharine was distressed but firm. 

‘‘ We’ll manage some way, then,” she replied 
soothingly, but I really don’t see how we can 
have Madame Monee. In fact, I’m sure we 
can’t afford it.” 

She stopped speaking and eyed her mother 
anxiously. Was Mrs. Allen going to have one 
of those old nervous attacks which the doctors 
had hoped were cured ? Miss Coatlee, who still 
remained in attendance, more as companion 
than nurse, had gone out for the afternoon, 


234 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


knowing that Katharine was to be with her 
mother. What ought the girl to do in case she 
became worse? 

Mrs. Allen’s attack of weeping did not last 
long, however. She pressed her handkerchief 
against her eyelids which did not look very red 
in spite of the sobs, and sat with face averted in 
sullen silence. Katharine longed to say some- 
thing to restore her mother’s good humor, but she 
could think of nothing which would not amount 
to giving in to what she knew, in their present 
circumstances, would be an impossibility. 

She was relieved to hear a low firm knock at 
the door and sprang eagerly to open it, exclaim- 
ing ‘‘ It’s Mr. Brown ! ” and that gentleman en- 
tered, looking very cheerful and lively. Mrs. 
Allen straightened up in her chair, giving a 
hasty twitch to her hair and shook hands gra- 
ciously. All signs of her recent stormy mood 
had vanished. 

Mr. Brown sat down and they discussed the 
weather and such-like generalities for a few 
moments. Then he said, glancing toward 
Katharine : 

“ Has this young lady been telling you of my 
business proposition ? ” 


MRS. ALLEN CONSENTS 


235 


Mrs. Allen looked curious and interested. 

“ She has told me nothing,” she replied. 
“ Kate had only just come, and we were discuss- 
ing clothes, as women will do whenever they 
get together.” 

She alluded to the conversation as if it 
had been the most amicable in the world. Kath- 
arine made no comment and Mr. Brown went 
on : 

“ With your permission I am going to make 
use of Miss Kate’s services ; to employ her as a 
sort of confidential agent as it were.” 

Mrs. Allen did not understand and looked 
from one to the other for explanation. Mr. 
Brown chuckled at her puzzled face. 

“ Don’t you congratulate me on my choice ? 
Don’t you agree with me that my confidence will 
not be misplaced ? ” 

“ I’m sure Kate is absolutely reliable,” an- 
swered Mrs. Allen a trifle stiffly. “ But 1 con- 
fess that I don’t quite see how she can be of use 
to you.” 

“ She is going to be a sort of registered letter 
for me,” explained Mr. Brown. “ She is to con- 
vey some important business papers from me to 
a banker in Lima.” 


236 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ In where ! ” ejaculated Mrs. Allen, taken com- 
pletely by surprise. 

‘‘ In Lima, Ohio,” responded her visitor 
promptly, with a take-it-for-granted manner that 
bewildered her all the more. 

“ You see, it’s this way,” he went on in his mat- 
ter-of-fact way, as though discussing some ordi- 
nary plan of the day, he and Katharine having 
agreed that it would be better to tell the trutli 
as plainly as possible. “ I have a nephew in the 
banking business in Lima. Some time ago he 
wrote to me, asking several questions in regard 
to some legal documents in my possession. These 
papers are too valuable to me to be sent through 
the mail and I have been waiting for an op- 
portunity to get them to him by some safe 
means. 

“ Well, your little daughter was paying us a 
visit the other day, and we got to talking about 
plans for the future, and all that.” 

Here Katharine grew a little nervous and 
twisted anxiously in her chair. Mr. Brown threw 
her a reassuring glance and continued : 

“ Y^ou know, little Miss Kate has an idea that 
she mustn’t go back to school next year, but 
must find some employment for the sake of help- 


MRS. ALLEN CONSENTS 


237 


ing out your income. She was asking me if I 
knew of any way in which she could earn some 
money, and asked permission to catalogue my 
library, which sadly needs it.” 

Katharine could not restrain a smile of admi- 
ration at the clever way in which Mr. Brown had 
woven in facts and conjectures to suit his needs. 

“ I thought over the matter,” concluded Mr. 
Brown, “ and it occurred to me that if she were 
really in earnest about the question of earning 
money, she might just as well begin at once, and 
I made her this proposition. It will serve as a 
starter to her career, and give her some idea of 
business methods.” 

“ But she oughtn’t to go away now. We have 
so much to do — packing — and all,” exclaimed 
Mrs. Allen, “ and where is Lima and how long 
would she be gone ? ” she asked, bewildered by 
the suddenness of the idea. I don’t approve 
at all,” she added positively, before any one had 
time to speak. “ I think my daughter is too 
young and inexperienced to be traveling about 
the country by herself, as anybody’s agent.” 

“ But, mother,” interposed Katharine, “ I go 
directly there. It won’t be traveling about tlie 
country. At least, not much of it,” she added 


238 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


truthfully, remembering that other excursion, 
unmentioned, from Lima. 

“ You may trust to me,” chimed in Mr. Brown 
hastily, “ to see that all arrangements are made 
for her comfort and safety. I’ll put her on the 
cars here myself, and leave her in charge of the 
conductor. At Lima she is to go directly to my 
nephew’s house, where his wife will take good 
care of her.” 

“ And it’s only about eight hours’ journey 
from here to Lima, mother,” added Katharine. 

Mrs. Allen could think of no further objections 
to make, but she w^as in the mood to find fault. 

“ How long wdll you be gone, and w^hat shall 
I do without you ? ” she asked peevishly. ‘‘ I 
had hoped to get our plans for the summer settled 
soon,” she added plaintively, turning to Mr. 
Brown. “ It is very wearing to be so upset about 
one’s future.” 

“ I can well believe it, madam,” he replied sym- 
pathetically. “ And any one would miss little 
Miss Kate, even were she gone ever so short a 
while. But I’m not going to take too much of 
her time.” 

Little Miss Kate was nearly as tall as the 
portly old gentleman himself. 


MRS. ALLEN CONSENTS 


239 


I’m to go on Wednesday next, mother dear, 
and come back the following Friday, so you see 
it’s only three days away from you,” said Katha- 
rine eagerly. 

Mrs. Allen scanned her daughter’s flushed face 
and shining eyes closely. 

“ I really believe you want to go,” she said 
slowly, with a tone of reproach in her voice. 

“ Why, yes, I really do,” replied Katharine, 
her thoughts busy with the other journey to be 
made, that meant so much to her. 

“The change will do her good. There’s noth- 
ing like a little change for a tonic,” interposed 
Mr. Brown quickly, afraid that Katharine would 
betray herself. “She’ll be back before you 
realize she’s gone, Mrs. Allen. And my wife 
and I will see that you are not left to get lonely.” 

This last promise meant drives along the Lake 
Shore in Mrs. Brown’s luxurious victoria, and 
long chats with that good-natured, voluble lady 
over the teacups, and went far to console the in- 
valid for the temporary loss of her daughter. 

“ I suppose I must let her go,” she said, yield- 
ing the point a wee bit grudgingly. “ But you 
don’t think she’s really run down, or in need of 
a change, do you ? ” 


CHAPTEK XXIII 


THE JOURNEY 

And so Mrs. Allen’s consent was gained with- 
out the slightest little pin-head of suspicion as 
to an ulterior motive being roused, and there 
was nothing to do but wait, impatiently, for 
Wednesday. 

The day came at length, as all days and all 
events must come if one waits long enough for 
them. Alice, who was engaged to spend the day 
with a friend, took a tearful leave of Katharine 
before she started. 

“ I don’t like it a bit ! ” she declared. It 
seems like the beginning of the end. Of course 
I knew that your visit couldn’t last forever, but 
I’ve gotten so used to having you here with me 
that I don’t know what in the world I’ll do 
without you.” 

“ But, Alice dear. I’ll only be gone till day 
after to-morrow. And as to my visit being ended, 

why, after it is done, mother and I will probably 
240 


THE JOURNEY 241 

live somewhere near you. Don’t you suppose 
I’m going to miss you, too ? ” 

“ I suppose so,” admitted Alice ruefully. 
“ But it won’t mean the same to you. I know 
you’re fond of me and all that. But you always 
have so many outside things to keep you busy 
and happy. You don’t live on your friends as 
I do,” and with a parting sob and hug Alice 
ran off. 

The doctor and Mrs. Warren went about their 
affairs for the day. Knowing that the cars 
would take Katharine directly to the station, 
where Mr. Brown was to meet her, they did 
not feel worried in thus letting her start off 
alone. 

The train did not leave until eleven, and half 
an hour was all that was needed to reach the 
station. She would start at ten, she resolved, 
to. allow time for the danger of being detained 
at the bridge while the draw was open, and set- 
tled herself resolutely with a book, to pass the 
intervening hour. Her satchel was packed and 
her hat and gloves were on. 

At half-past nine, having read just one page, 
she rose and threw aside her book. She could 
not sit still a moment longer ! She opened her 
16 


242 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


bag and poked about among its contents to see 
that nothing had been forgotten, took off her 
gloves and put them on again, walked restlessly 
up and down the room several times and then, 
with an air of hasty resolve, slipped on her 
jacket and took up her satchel. 

“ I’ll walk down. My bag’s not very heavy 
and the exercise will do me good,” she thought, 
and descended to the street. 

Crossing to North State Street, Katharine 
turned down toward the river. She walked 
briskly, looking about her with observant, inter- 
ested gaze. She had a delicious sense of free- 
dom and independence, like a bird let out of its 
cage. She was about to carry out the most ard- 
ent wish of her life, and to find out those mys- 
terious facts concerning her father’s property. 
For that there were both facts and mysteries, 
she was confident. 

She was hastening on, her fleet steps keeping 
time with her busy, excited thoughts, when she 
was suddenly accosted. 

“ Kate ! I say Kate ! Katharine ! Wherever 
in the world are you going in such a hurry ? ” 
and a tall, slim boy, with a merry freckled face 
came up beside her. 


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THE JOURNEY 243 

He was almost breathless from his efforts to 
catch up with her. 

Jim Griggs, of all people ! The last person 
in the world she would have chosen to meet, ex- 
cept his father ! 

“ Hello ! ” he cried, spying her satchel, “ going 
away ? ” 

“ Just on a little trip,” Katharine admitted 
reluctantly. 

“ But I say, tell me what’s up ? Where ’re, you 
going ? Here, let me carry the bag. I’ll walk 
along with you.” 

“ Oh, no, thanks. Won’t it be taking you out 
of your way ? ” 

“ Haven’t got a thing to do. But maybe you 
don’t want me ? ” he added, perceiving the reluc- 
tance with which she yielded her bag to his care. 

Y’ aren’t mad at me for anything, are you ? ” 

“ Oh, no, Jim. I should like to have you, 

only ” She hesitated. Should she warn him 

to keep the secret of her journey ? Might it not 
make him more suspicious? Oh, why hadn’t 
she waited and taken the car ! 

‘‘ Only what ? ” asked Jim, falling into step 
beside her and swinging the satchel carelessly. 
“ Are you in a hurry to make the train ? ” 


244 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“No, not much of a hurry.” 

After all, it was better to have Jim’s suspicions 
roused than those of his father. 

“I was going to ask you,” she went on hur- 
riedly, “not to mention having seen me, or say 
anything about my going away. You see. I’m 
going on a little business trip for Mr. Brown. 
It’s confidential business and — well, I don’t want 
to talk about it,” she finished with the candor 
of despair. 

“By Jupiter!” ejaculated Jim in astonished 
admiration. “ Mr. Brown sending you off on 
confidential business ! My eye ! He must bank 
on you as All All right. I’ll keep mum. 
Honest Injun, I will.” 

Katharine smiled at the compliment, but felt 
more pleased with the assurance he had given 
not to mention her journey. She knew that he 
would keep his word. 

“ Here, run for it I ” exclaimed her comrade 
at that instant. “ Bun, or we’ll be caught at 
the bridge.” 

A tug was blowing impatiently and Katha- 
rine and Jim scampered across the bridge, just 
clearing the draw before it began to swing 
slowly open. At the station door Katharine 


THE JOURNEY 245 

took the satchel back and thanked Jim for 
carrying it. 

“You needn’t come any farther, thanks,” she 
said. “Mr. Brown is to meet me here and put 
me on the train. Good-by. Don’t say any- 
thing about my going away.” 

She did not want him to know what train 
she was going to take, or that she had come to 
the station so much too early. But Jim thought 
she had business to talk over with Mr. Brown, 
and he took the hint readily. 

“Good-by, Kate. But you’re coming back 
for the Fourth, aren’t you ? Have a good trip. 
Mum’s the word,” he replied, shaking her 
heartily by the hand. And doffing his cap he 
ran off. 

Katharine went inside and sat down in the 
corner of the waiting-room where she was to 
meet Mr. Brown. She did not have to wait 
long, for he too had been impatient. He came 
bustling up almost as full of excitement as 
Katharine herself. He sat down beside her 
and took a packet of papers out of his pocket 
and removing the elastic band which confined 
them, he sorted them on his knee. 

“This,” he said, holding out a long, thick 


246 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


yellow envelope, fastened with a tape, “ this 
contains the documents for my nephew. Stow 
it away carefully in your satchel. That’s right. 
Now, where’s your pocketbook? Bless your 
heart, that little purse won’t do. Here,” and 
he produced a package from another pocket. 

Opening it, Katharine discovered a dainty 
pocket-book of soft black leather, with silver 
edgings. 

“ How lovely ! ” she cried in great delight. “ Is 
this really for me ? Thank you so much, sir.” 

“ It’s nothing, nothing — a very practical affair,” 
replied Mr. Brown, embarrassed by her effusion. 
“ Now, open it. In here,” as Katharine 
obeyed, ‘‘ I’ll put your ticket to Lima. It’s a 
return ticket, you see, so take care of the other 
half. Now, here is money for the other tickets 
— up to Amsden, you know. Ned will get 
them for you. Then you’ll need this money 
for your cabs, meals on trains, your supper at 
Amsden and all the incidentals of traveling.” 

“ Oh, thank you, sir. But it is far too much ! ” 

“ No, indeed, I’ve calculated very closely. If 
by any chance there is any left, you can return 
it, you little soul of honor. But you mustn’t 
hold back a single penny you could find a use 


THE JOURNEY 247 

for. And now/’ he took another bulky, sealed 
envelope of grayish hue out of his pocket, this 
is money for emergencies. I want you to put 
it away somewhere in a safe place. You see 
the bills are in a linen envelope that won’t tear, 
and you will feel perfectly secure in case any 
difficulty should arise.” 

“ But nothing will,” said Katharine. 

“ I hope not indeed, lass. But it’s a dreadful 
thing to feel short of money when you are out 
of the reach of friends. So you must take it. 
You’ll no doubt hand me back the envelope as 
I give it to you, but your having it about you 
will make us both feel more comfortable. Now 
I think we can get on the train. Let me have 
your ticket to pass the gate.” 

Mr. Brown took up her bag and Katharine 
followed him down the platform, holding tight 
to her new pocketbook and feeling very grate- 
ful indeed to her kind benefactor. Mr. Brown 
settled her comfortably in her chair, introduced 
her to the conductor, tumbled a box of sweet- 
meats and half a dozen illustrated papers and 
magazines into her lap, with which to beguile 
the time, and then sat down in the chair oppo- 
site for a last word. 


248 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ I have one more thing to say about Amsden,” 
he said, lowering his voice. “ I shall be very 
anxious to know your discoveries. Will you 
telegraph me before leaving there ? — whether 
the news be good or bad. And,” he added im- 
pressively, “ in making your inquiries round the 
village, find out if there are any oil-wells in the 
vicinity. In some part of Wood County near 
there, they have struck oil. Seneca County, 
where Amsden is, is not out of possible range. 
Find out all you can about this, my lass.” 

He rose, said farewell and went away. He 
paused at the door for a word with the porter 
and then stood outside and waved a last adieu to 
her through the window as the train rolled out 
of the station. 

“ Dear Mr. Brown,” thought Katharine, sink- 
ing back comfortably in her chair. “ How 
kind he is to me. And how mysterious he 
w^as about the oil. I wonder if he’s been mak- 
ing inquiries about our land. If there should 
be oil on it ! Oh, if there should ! It would 
mean mints of money. I know people who 
strike oil are always rich. Dear mother, how 
nice it would be for her ! I wonder if that 
is what Mr. Griggs has found out about it. 


THE JOURNEY 249 

But he couldn’t have, for it would be too dis- 
honorable to go on talking about its being ‘ waste 
land ’ and not worth its taxes, if he thought 
that about it. Even Mr. Griggs isn’t so wicked 
as that ! ” 

W ell, she would soon know. She was at last 
actually started on her journey ! She had brooded 
so long over this trip, and had wished so ardently 
to make it, that it seemed almost impossible to 
believe that she was really on her way ! 

She settled herself in her chair with a little sigh 
of content, and watched the fast-flying fields in 
absent-minded reverie. After a time she took 
up one of the magazines and opened the box of 
chocolates. At one o’clock she was unlocking 
her bag to get out the little package of sand- 
wiches that Mrs. Warren had put up for her 
luncheon, when the porter appeared with a small 
table and a printed card. He fitted the table into 
the grooves of the window and presented the card 
to Katharine with : By the gentleman’s odahs, 
miss. We’re a buffet car and serve you prompt 
and elegant.” 

Katharine smiled and gave her order, which 
was filled with anything but promptness, but 
which was good enough when it arrived to make 


250 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


lier glad that she had not yielded to the temp- 
tation to attack the sandwiches. 

The journey was very uneventful and the 
train arrived at Lima precisely on time. Kath- 
arine had young Mr. Brown’s card in her purse, 
with the exact address written out and the color 
of the street-car she must take to reach his house. 
Therefore she was very pleasantly surprised to be 
greeted on the platform by two young people who 
pounced upon her and declared themselves to be 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The man was an exact 
copy of his uncle without the white hair and 
rotundity. His wife was slender also, and very 
pretty, with reddish hair and merry eyes. They 
made Katharine feel at her ease immediately, and 
by the time they had reached the house she felt as 
if she had known them all her life. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


EN ROUTE FOR AMSDEX 

They spent a very pleasant but quiet evening. 
Katharine was taken up to the nursery to see 
the babies put to bed, and so fascinating did 
she find the rosy cherubs that she had only time 
for a very hasty toilet before dinner was ready. 
After that meal she and Mrs. Brown sat in the 
parlor and talked while Mr. Brown excused 
himself and went off to his little study to look 
over the documents that Katharine had brought. 
There were a good many extracts to be copied, 
and as Katharine was to take the papers back 
with her, he was anxious to begin his work on 
them as soon as possible. 

It was a warm summer night. The front 
door stood open and Mrs. Brown proposed 
presently that they take a short stroll up and 
down the street in front of the house. She 
supplied Katharine with a light cape, threw a 

251 


^52 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


knitted shawl about her own shoulders and they 
started out. Mrs. Brown laughed and joked 
like any girl, and ^vhen they reached the corner, 
suggested going into the drug-store for a glass 
of soda water. 

When they got back to the house it was only 
nine o’clock, but Mrs. Brown sent her young 
visitor off to bed. 

“ You’ve had a long journey to-day and are 
going to have a harder one to-morrow,” she said, 
“ and you will need a good night’s sleep. Good 
night, dear. Let me know if you want anything, 
and we breakfast at eight. I’m so glad Ned’s 
uncle sent you to us.” 

She kissed Katharine good night and the girl 
crept into bed with a warm glow of happiness be- 
cause there were so many good and kind people in 
the world. But she was tired and the bed com- 
fortable, so she did not lie awake long, even to go 
over the delightful, excited thoughts that filled 
her brain. Indeed, her head had scarcely touched 
the pillow before she was away to the Land of 
Nod, peering with rosy babies and pretty women 
over the edge of great surging wells of oil in the 
midst of a waste of bare ground, while Mr. 
Brown’s voice whispered, “ I guessed it, my lass,” 


EN ROUTE FOR AMSDEN 


253 


and Jim Griggs appeared in tEe background to 
shout, “ Mum’s the word ! ” 

The next morning she was astir with the 
sparrows that chirped outside her window, and 
hearing a pattering of baby feet, hurried to the 
nursery to renew her acquaintance with little 
four year old Marjorie and the baby Ned. 
Mrs. Brown found her there, sitting on the 
floor half hidden under baby arms and legs and 
buried in a rainbow shower of broken toys and 
picture-books. She rescued her and bore her 
olf to breakfast, declaring that such an early 
bird must have a very big appetite indeed. 

At ten o’clock Katharine found herself on the 
train again, this time to make the journey ! As 
she expected to return that same evening she had 
left her bag at Mrs. Brown’s, but she carried 
two or three of the magazines that old Mr. 
Brown had given her, and a large box of lunch- 
eon. This last her hostess had insisted upon, as 
it would probably have to answer for both 
dinner and supper, it being very unlikely that 
there would be anything like a clean eating-house 
in the little villa2:e of Amsden. 

The train was an accommodation, consisting of 
just three cars, and of course no parlor car. 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


254 

But Katharine had a seat to herself and rather 
enjoyed the frequent stops, watching the people 
who got on and off at the different villages, 
most of them countiy folk going to visit friends 
or relatives in neighboring hamlets. No one 
seemed to be in a hurry. The people getting 
on paused at the lowest step for a final word, 
and the conductor waited patiently until they 
had boarded the train. Those leaving it would 
go back to their seats for a last survey in search 
of chance forgotten articles, and he did not hurry 
them. 

This amused Katharine for a time. They 
took the stoppings and goings of the train so as 
a matter of course, arranged solely for their indi- 
vidual convenience. But after a while she con- 
sulted her watch and found that the train was 
twenty minutes behind time. How in the world 
had they managed to lose so much ! Surely the 
four hours provided to cover the distance be- 
tween Lima and Amsden had been long enough 
to allow for innumerable stoppings ! Her time in 
Amsden was so short in which to go over the land 
and learn all she wished to know concerning 
it, that she felt every minute of it to be pre- 
cious. 


EN ROUTE FOR AMSDEN 


255 


And now the stupid train was over twenty 
minutes behind time and going slower eveiy 
moment ! 

At last, at a station which consisted of two 
houses, a barn and the store, a combination of 
post-office, general store and depot, the train 
stopped, then puffed and backed, slowly but 
deliberately, on to a side track, where it came to 
a standstill. 

‘‘ Why, what in the world ! ” ejaculated Kath- 
arine in amazement. 

She looked out of the window and saw the 
conductor and brakemen of the train lounging 
about the platform as if they had plenty of time 
on their hands. Katharine hesitated a moment, 
then pinned on her hat and got out of the train. 
She approached the conductor and asked him if 
he could explain the meaning of the stop ? 

“ We’re waitin’ for the down express to go by,” 
he said politely. “You see, we’ve had to run a 
little slower ’n usual to-day, owin’ to symptoms 
of a hot box, ’nd we couldn’t make the pull up 
to where we usually pass the mail train. So 
were waitin’ here for her to go by.” 

“AVill it be very long?” queried Katharine 
anxiously. 


256 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Fifteen or twenty minutes now. I don’t 
know th’ exact time she’s due kere.” 

Katharine’s face fell. 

‘‘ That will make the train nearly an hour late ! ” 
she exclaimed in a disappointed tone. 

A hrakeman joined them. 

“The express’ll be along in just seventeen 
minutes, miss. Where might you be going ? ” he 
asked. 

“To Amsden,” replied Katharine. “I had 
hoped to get through my business there in time 
to take the four-thirty train back to Lima. But 
it will leave me very little time now.” 

“ That’s hard lines,” said the brakeman sym- 
pathetically. “ But I guess our trouble’ll make 
the train going back late too, so you'll have 
your time at t’other end.” 

This was small comfort. For if the return 
train was late in leaving Amsden, it would 
mean a tardy arrival at Lima, and Katharine 
had no fancy for being deposited in a strange 
town late at night. However, there was noth- 
ing to be done, so she thanked the men and 
walked back to the other end of the platform. 

There was very little in the scenery to interest 
one. It was for the most part a flat, monotonous 


EN ROUTE FOR AMSDEN 257 

sweep, the various tinted greens of the spring 
crops lending light and shade to the landscape. 
Here and there in the middle of a field, Katharine 
noticed queer, spider-legged erections as if some 
one had been trying to copy the Eiffel Tower on 
a small scale. 

Perceiving the conductor standing near, she 
pointed to the derricks and asked what they 
were ? 

“ Them’s oil-wells, miss,” he replied. 

“ Oil-wells ! Is there oil about here — much of 
it?” 

“They’re strikin’ it rich all through these 
regions,” exclaimed the man enthusiastically. 
“ There’s millions under the ground all about 
us ! ” 

“ How interesting ! How do they tell that the 
oil is there ? ” asked Katharine, trying to keep 
the excitement out of her voice. 

The conductor thought her interest merely 
general and was amused at her youthful zest for 
knowledge. 

“ By boring,” he answered. “AVhen oil’s 
suspected they bore just for that. But very 
often it’s been come on unexpected, when the 
owners were boring an ordinary well,” 


258 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Oh ! Aud you say it’s all about here ? ” 

“ Well, purty much. We’re a wee bit on the 
outskirts just here. The great district is up 
around Wood and Henry counties.” 

“ But Seneca County joins those,” exclaimed 
Katharine, who had studied her map carefully. 

“ That’s so, and it may turn out to be right in 
the vein,” replied the conductor. “ In any case, 
if you’ve got any land in Seneca county you’d 
better hold on to it.” 

Just then the sound of the express was heard 
in the distance and the conductor helped Kath- 
arine up the steps of her car. 

“Yes, sir, you’d better hold on to it,” he re- 
peated emphatically. 

“I intend to,” replied Katharine positively, 
and as she spoke her lips set themselves into a 
determined curve. 


CHAPTER XXV 


A COLLISION 

The fast train whizzed by and the accommoda- 
tion puffed back on to the main track again, and 
pursued its leisurely course. The other inmates 
of the car, whom the long stop did not seem to 
have disturbed in the least, were most of them 
munching pie or doughnuts out of paper bags. 
This reminded Katharine that she had had 
nothing to eat since breakfast, and that it was 
long after one o’clock. 

It is to be feared that, though she did every- 
thing full justice, she did not altogether appre- 
ciate the daintiness of the luncheon which young 
Mrs. Brown had been at such pains to put up. 
She ate absent-mindedly, her thoughts absorbed 
by the wonderful possibilities that the con- 
ductor’s words had conjured up. 

Her inexplicable unwillingness to part with 
that land had been a presentiment ! It was to 

259 


26 o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


turn out to be the making of their fortune ! 
The Aladdin’s palace did not seem so impos- 
sible after all. Only, it would not be situated 
at Amsden, she reflected. The scenery was too 
dreary. Her mother could have half a dozen 
carriages if she liked, and Madam Monee to make 
up her plainest clothes. Katharine would be 
able to go back to Miss Greaves and later, per- 
haps, go to college. They would engage Miss 
Coatlee as a sort of housekeeper and com- 
panion to Mrs. Allen. There would never be 
anything to worry over again ! 

What a pity it was her father could not have 
lived to share this great good fortune ! How 
proud he would have been of his daughter if he 
knew that she had found it out ! Then it oc- 
curred to her that if her father had lived she 
would never have known about the Ohio prop- 
erty at all. It was only through her poor dear 
father’s will that the knowledge had come to 
her. 

The thought saddened her and took the enjoy- 
ment out of her castle building. She came 
back to the world of every day with the realiza- 
tion that the train was going very fast indeed. 
She glanced out of the window and perceived 


A COLLISION 


261 

that they were going down grade and at a high 
rate of speed which was increasing every in- 
stant. She wondered with some alarm if the 
train were running away. She had heard of 
such things as wild engines and runaway trains. 

But the engineer had full control of his 
machine. The last few miles of track that led 
into Amsden were down grade and, with no 
station for some distance, he thought it an excel- 
lent opportunity to make up time. Alas, he was 
not aware of a heavy construction train that 
was traveling southward from Erie. 

This train, knowing the accommodation to be 
scheduled for Amsden at two — ten, skimmed 
past that village without stopping for a report, 
never dreaming that the train could be nearly 
one hour late. The grade just beyond becom- 
ing steep, the engineer of the construction train 
pulled open his lever to take the hill full on, the 
cars behind being heavy. 

Then, what was his horror to see, all at once, 
the accommodation sweeping round a cui*ve not 
a quarter of a mile away, and bearing down upon 
him at the rate of at least fifty miles an hour. 
The engineer of the accommodation saw the 
danger at the same instant, and giving a sharp, 


262 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


shrill signal for “ down brakes,’^ reversed his 
lever and applied the air brakes. 

Katharine felt a sudden jerk, followed by a 
series of rough bumpings as the wheels sped 
over the rails under the vain checking of the 
brakes. She sprang to her feet in alarm, but 
the next moment was thrown back violently. 
There was a crash, a thud, and the fierce hissing 
of steam, accompanied by shrieks and cries. 
Katharine tried to rise again but was hurled 
forward. Her head struck the back of the seat 
in front of her. She was conscious of a sharp, 
agonizing pain in the temple and then knew 
nothing more. 

In an instant all was excitement and confu- 
sion ; men shouting, women shrieking, and above 
and through it all, the sharp, incessant hissing 
of steam. 

The accident had occurred quite near Amsden, 
and it did not take long to get a wrecking engine 
upon the scene and to begin drawing apart the 
damaged cars. Hews flies fast in a tiny village, 
and soon two-thirds of the population were 
thronging about the scene of the disaster, all 
eager to help in some way. Several farmers who 
lived near the tracks offered their houses as tern- 


A COLLISION 


263 

porary hospitals for the wounded and their wives 
hurried home to prepare spare beds and to set 
their kettles boiling. 

The car in which Katharine was suffered the 
least injury, being the last. It had been thrown 
sideways over a low embankment and lay with 
its wheels uppermost. But a greater danger 
threatened — the most awful element in a rail- 
way wreck — fire. The car ahead was burning 
fiercely, and already the front end of the rear 
car was beginning to char. An eager band of 
volunteers, led by the conductor, gathered to 
rescue its passengers, most of whom were al- 
ready trying to crawl out through the shattered 
windows. 

At last some one shouted that all were out. 
But the conductor, glancing about, missed one 
face ; that of the pretty, intelligent young girl 
with whom he had talked earlier in the after- 
noon. 

“ No, they ain’t all out ! ” he shouted hoarsely. 
“ There’s one left in there yet — a young lady. 
Come, help me, boys,” and catching up a wet 
blanket, he clambered into the now burning car. 

One other man followed him while two more 
seized axes and began cutting away the wood- 


264 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

work, to make more room for an escape. In a 
few seconds tke two men reappeared, bearing 
something between them wrapped in the drip- 
ping, steaming blanket. An instant after they 
had stepped outside, a long yellow tongue of 
flame darted out through the aperture and 
licked the varnished paint. 

The two men staggered across the ditch with 
their burden, assisted by a dozen willing hands. 

“Air she much hurt d’you think?” asked 
several anxious voices. 

“ Dunno. She was lyin’ a-tween two seats, 
huddled up in a little bunch, and unconscious. 
It may ’a’ be’n the smoke, or she may ’a’ be’n 
struck.” 

“ Guess she’s just fainted from fright,” said a 
voice in the crowd. 

“ Not much,” replied the conductor. “ She 
ain’t that kind. I was talkin’ to her this after- 
noon, ’nd she’s got grit, if I know it.” 

“ Better have ’em carry her up to my house. 
It’s at the end of this field,” said a gray-headed 
old farmer, stepping up. “ There ain’t nobody 
been took there yet except the man with his leg 
broke, ’nd we’ve got two spare rooms.” 

During this conversation Katharine, for it 


A COLLISION 


265 


was she whom the conductor had so gallantly 
rescued, lay quite still. Her face was colorless 
and her arms hung inertly at her sides. There 
was a murmur of admiration and pity as the 
conductor uncovered her fair face. 

“ What a pretty child ! I guess some mother’s 
heart will ache to-night,” said a woman in a low 
voice. 

The two men took up their burden again and 
bore it gently across the fields, away from the 
scene of the accident, into Farmer Gray’s house 
and laid it carefully upon his best bed. 

As they laid her down, Katharine moved 
slightly and gave a low moan. 

“ She’s alive ! ” whispered the farmer’s wife 
thankfully. “Will one o’ you men send the 
doctor up here ’s quick ’s he can be spared ? ” 


CHAPTER XXVI 


ME. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 

In the dining-room of a large handsome house 
on Dearborn Avenue, on the morning of the 
Fourth of July the breakfast-table was laid for 
two. The windows of the room were opened 
to admit the sweet, fresh summer air and the 
sparrows chirped blithely among the vines out- 
side. A sedate gray tabby lay crouched on the 
window sill, blinking with hypocritical sleepi- 
ness at the wary birds. An occasional report or 
the quick snapping of fire-crackers sounded on 
the breeze, to indicate that the great national 
holiday was at hand. 

At the table sat Mr. Griggs reading his 
morning paper while he leisurely sipped his 
cotfee. The lawyer always made a point of 
breakfasting comfortably and slowly. He never 
allowed disagreeable subjects to be discussed 
at that meal, and he did not like to be disturbed. 
The place opposite was still vacant, and this fact 

266 


MR. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 267 

lessened in a slight degree his enjoyment, for 
he believed in punctuality. Above all, was it a 
sin to be late for breakfast. But Jim appeared 
before his father’s annoyance had reached the 
point of irritation, and his cheerful “ good 
morning ” received an amiable response. 

Jim attacked his breakfast with the ardor of 
a healthy appetite, while his father poured him- 
self a second cup of coffee and turned the page 
of his newspaper. The headlines of a railroad 
accident met his eye and he glanced at them. 

“ Nothing of any consequence. Some little 
accommodation train in Ohio,” he thought care- 
lessly and was about to pass over the article 
when something caught his attention. It was a 
name among the list of the hurt. 

“ Katharine Allen, Chicago. Chicago papers 
please copy.” 

Just a line but it held his gaze riveted. 

“Nonsense,” he reflected. “It’s some other 
Katharine Allen. The name is a common 
enough one. It’s probably some old woman with 
a family.” 

He read through the article, however, scanning 
each paragraph closely ; the details of the col- 
lision ; its cause and result ; the saving of all 


568 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


the passengers with no loss of life and very few 
injured. The only serious case was that of a 
young girl, the account said, who was carried 
unconscious out of the rear car just as it caught 
fire. She was traveling alone and carried no 
baggage. Though the pocket book which she 
held clenched in her hand was searched, its con- 
tents revealed nothing more than that her name 
was Katharine Allen and that she was from 
Chicago. A personal description followed with 
the request that it be copied in the Chicago 
papers. 

Mr. Griggs sat as if turned to stone, his gaze 
fixed on the printed sheet before kim. The 
description in the paper tallied with that of 
Katharine to the minutest detail. It must be 
she. What was she doing in that part of Ohio ? 
When did she go and why had he not been told 
of her proposed journey ? Could it be that she 
had learned something ? 

With a sudden cold chill at his heart, the 
lawyer looked at the heading again. “ Amsden ” 
the telegram was dated. The very town near 
which the disputed land lay. She had heard 
then ! In some way she had found out ! 

Since that last interview in his office, she had 


MR. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 269 

ceased to question him about the property, and 
he believed she had given up her idea of spend- 
ing the summer there. Instead of giving it up, 
she had been pressing her plan more closely, it 
appeared ! 

She must have had some help in the matter. 
Who had aided her ? Was it the doctor ? Had 
his suspicions been roused by the lawyer’s re- 
fusal to show him the plan ? No, the doctor 
was too simple-minded not to accept his ex- 
cuses as true. It was some one else who had 
lent his aid to the girl. Some one shrewd and 
wise. Some one acquainted with the rumors 
afloat concerning that locality and who thought 
the matter worth looking into. This some one 
had sent Katharine to Amsden to find out about 
the value of her property. Katharine was in 
Amsden and she would learn the truth. 

A sudden panic seized the usually calm man. 
He sat, cold and quiet, with a perfect tempest 
of wrath and fear raging within his breast. F rom 
the first he had intended to buy that piece of 
Allen property. For some time past he had been 
too short of ready money to make the purchase, 
and his personal affairs too involved to permit of 
his obtaining a sufficiently large loan. 


270 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


But within the next week he would receive a 
very considerable fee for professional services, 
and with this money he was to transfer the 
ownership of those few acres from Mrs. Allen’s 
name to his own. Now, now that the prize 
was so close within his grasp, was he to lose 
it ? Lose it after weeks of waiting and patient 
planning ? That would be too bitter a defeat ! 

To own it meant wealth and luxury. He 
knew to a certainty that there was a rich vein 
of petroleum flowing across that self-same strip 
of “ waste land.” And he had determined that 
that wealth should be his. Was he to be 
balked of a fortune by a precocious girl of 
sixteen ? 

He ground his teeth and tightened his grip 
on the paper in his effort to retain his self-con- 
trol. The clenching of his hands shook the 
journal and it rattled. Jim glanced up but the 
printed sheet hid his father’s face from view and 
he continued his breakfast, busy with his own 
thoughts. 

Mr. Griggs steadied his nerves and tried to 
think calmly. Was there any possible way of 
borrowing the money, that he might make the 
transfer of the property at once? No, even if 


MR. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 271 

he could find a bank willing to take his security, 
it was a holiday. There was the rub. How 
could he transact business on a legal holiday ? 
And by the next day it might be too late ! Oh, 
why had he been so dilatory ! 

The one condition that Mrs. Allen had im- 
posed upon the sale of the land was that she 
should receive ready money. The price agreed 
upon was considerable for a cash payment. In 
spite of his assertions that it was “ at present 
not worth its taxes,” Mr. Griggs still had a faint 
echo of conscience and was willing to pay as 
high as he could for his prize. But he had 
been unfortunate in his speculations lately and 
his credit was not so good as it had been. But 
he could not sit meekly by and see his schemes 
frustrated. He must do something ! He had 
counted upon this wealth with which to recoup 
his fortunes ! 

The fee was to be paid on the coming Mon- 
day. Only three days away ! If he should 
miss his chance by a beggarly three days ! 
Could he induce them to pay it earlier ? He 
hesitated to suggest so unbusiness-like a thing. 

His eye wandered absently over the column 
again and caught a ray of hope. The accident 


272 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


had happened only on the evening of the day 
before. And it had occurred south of Amsden ! 

Then Katharine had not reached the village 
when the disaster befell ! She had probably 
learned nothing yet. And if, as the papers re- 
ported, she she lying unconscious in some 
farmhouse, she would not be in a state to learn 
anything for some time to come. He had not 
thought of that. How absurd of him to have 
gone olf into a senseless panic of fear ! 

Well, he would think no longer, but act! 
He laid down his paper resolutely and rose. 
The first thing to do was to ascertain exactly 
when Katharine had gone away. Mrs. Allen 
was the one to see, but it was somewhat too 
early yet, even for a business call. Jim looked 
up from his hot cakes. 

“ What’s up ? ” he asked jovially. ‘‘ Your 
eating’s not up to the mark this morning.” 

“ I’ve a headache,” returned his father briefiy. 

Then something, possibly a feeling that he 
ought to prolong the conversation and unable 
to think of anything but the subject that filled 
his mind, prompted him to say, casually : 

“ Have you seen Katharine Allen lately ? ” 

Jim blushed and hesitated, 


MR. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 273 

‘‘ I saw her on Wednesday for a few minutes,” 
he said unwillingly. 

“Wednesday!” ejaculated his father in sur- 
prise. “ What time on Wednesday ? ” 

“ Wednesday morning,” replied his son truth- 
fully. 

“AVednesday morning? What part of AVed- 
nesday morning ? AVhere was she going ? ” 
demanded Mr. Griggs. 

Jim remembered his promise to Katharine and 
felt uncomfortable. 

“ She — she was going on an errand,” he mut- 
tered, hiding his red, embarrassed face behind 
his coffee-cup. 

To Jim Griggs, not to tell the truth was as 
bad as telling a lie. 

“ Then her ^ errand ’ was somewhere out of 
town,” said his father sternly, eying Jim close- 
ly. “And I see by the morning paper that 
she’s been badly hurt in a railway accident.” 

“ Hurt ! Kate Allen hurt in a railway 
accident ! ” cried Jim, jumping to his feet. “ Oh, 
I say, that’s dreadful 1 Where did it happen, 
father ? AVhy, she seemed in such good 
spirits when she started off on Wednesday. I 
hope she isn’t badly hurt! Where did it 
18 


2/4 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


happen ? Is it a serious accident ? Let me see 
the paper.” 

But Mr. Griggs had no intention of letting 
Jim get an inkling of the Amsden affair. 

“ Why do you ask where it happened ? ” he 
asked sharply. “ You knew then, that she was 
going out of town. Did you know where she 
was going ? ” 

As he spoke he quickly opened his pen-knife, 
and cut out that column of the newspaper re- 
lating to the collision. 

“No, I didn’t know where,” replied Jim can- 
didly. “ She was sort of mum about it. Said 
it was confidential business so of course I didn’t 
ask any more questions.” 

This confirmed Mr. Griggs’s suspicions. Kath- 
arine had gone to Amsden to learn the truth 
about her father’s property. The question 
was, had she found out anything yet? How 
serious was this accident to Katharine, and for 
how long would it prevent her from obtaining 
the answer to her quest? He hoped for long 
enough to enable him to transfer the property 
from Mrs. Allen’s name to his own. 

It would be a trifie suspicious, he knew, to 
have the land bought in by him on the eve of 


MR. GRIGGS IS FRIGHTENED 275 


so important a discovery. But he could not 
help that. It would most certainly damage his 
reputation as a business man, but if the prop- 
erty proved as valuable as he had almost certain 
knowledge of its being, he could retire from 
business and move away from Chicago altogether. 

The present question was, how to get the 
land in his possession, and secure Mrs. Allen’s 
name to the deed of sale before she was warned ? 
His hands seemed tied because of the day. 
How could he transact business on a legal holi- 
day ? 


CHAPTER XXVII 


AX ILLEGAL BUSINESS TEAXSACTIOX 

Mr. Griggs went into his study and sat down 
before his desk. He felt thwarted, out-witted, 
check-mated ! The shock of the news in the 
journal ; Katharine’s misfortune and the knowl- 
edge it gave him of her actions had for a time 
bewildered and dazed his keen mind. He could 
make no calculations, form no plan of action. 

But gradually his thoughts cleared and he 
began to study out what course to pursue. 
Money he must have by the following morning. 
Even then it might be too late, but he must 
take the risk. No, better than that ! An idea 
flashed into his mind. He sat immovable for 
a few minutes thinking out the details and then 
rose and went to the door. 

His plan was this. To make out the deed of 
sale, date it in advance, and take it to Mrs. 

Allen to sign that very day ! On the next 
276 


AN ILLEGAL TRANSACTION 277 

morning again he would produce one or two 
documents, of fictitious value, also to be signed 
by her. 

He knew that if his claim to the property 
was disputed and it was discovered that the 
business had been transacted on a national holi- 
day, it would not hold legally. In this way, 
he hoped to escape that discovery. He trusted 
to Mrs. Allen’s feminine tendency to put her sig- 
nature to any legal document when requested, 
without examining its contents. So, if she 
signed a paper on a holiday, being told it was 
a memorandum, and signed one or more on the 
day following, how was she to know which of 
them was the bill of sale ? AVould it not bear 
the date of the fifth ? 

In order to carry out this plan, Mr. Griggs 
must have the money at hand. But that, too, 
he had seen a way of getting ; a way so simple 
that he marveled that he had not thought of it 
at once. 

He opened the door and called his son. Jim 
had his hat on and was just about to leave the 
house. 

‘‘ AVhere are you going ? ” demanded his father 
suspiciously. 


278 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ To hear the speeches in the park,” replied 
Jim hesitatingly. 

“ It is not time to start for that. Where are 
you going first ? ” 

“ I was just going around to the St. Ursula 
hospital to see if Mrs. Allen had had any news 
of Kate,” admitted Jim. ^ 

“ And scare her into a thousand fits. That’s 
thoughtful of you,” sneered his father. “ Don’t 
you suppose nurse and doctor will keep 
any such news from her until they’ve gotten the 
facts ? I’m on my way now to the telegraph 
station to send a message to the little village 
near which the accident occurred, to learn par- 
ticulars. But I want to talk to you a moment 
first. Come into the study. You have time.” 

Jim was surprised at the summons. He was 
rarely bidden to his father’s room, which was a 
sanctum sanctorum to Mr. Griggs. He hung 
up his hat again and followed his father into 
the room. Mr. Griggs closed the door behind 
him, motioned Jim to take a chair and reseated 
himself at his desk. 

Jim sat down on the edge of a straight-backed 
chair and began to go over in his mind all his 
misdeeds of the past few days, wondering what 


AN ILLEGAL TRANSACTION 279 

fault he could have committed to bring about 
so serious a treatment. That his father was 
meditating some reproof, he did not doubt. 

The lawyer did not speak for some time. 
He was debating the best way of expressing 
his demand — for the request that he was about 
to make was in reality a demand. At last he 
looked up and said quietly : 

“ Jim, you know that you have something over 
two thousand dollars in the bank, that your 
mother left you ? ” 

“ Why, yes, sir,” answered Jim, showing fresh 
surprise. “ At least I knew that there was some 
money, but I didn’t know it was as much as 
that.” 

“ It has been accumulating interest in the bank. 
Not quite so much, perhaps, as if it had been 
put out at a higher rate. But I — I have never 
found quite the proper investment for it.” 

He hesitated to say that he had not considered 
his own investments safe enough. The redeem- 
ing feature in Mr. Griggs’ character was a lin- 
gering tendency to honor the memory of his dead 
wife. The little sum of money that she had 
left to her son the father had never touched. 
But the present emergency was great and im- 


28 o 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


perative. Help lie must have and where to turn 
for it, if not to his own son ? ” 

“ I have a favor to ask of you,” continued Mr. 
Griggs slowly. ‘‘ A great favor, which 1 trust 
you will grant without asking any questions.” 

“ Why, yes, sir — of course not, sir,” stammered 
Jim, completely bewildered by his father’s words 
and manner. “ I’ll do anything I can for you, 
sir. Anything I can at any time. You know 
that, sir.” 

Mr. Griggs was gratified by this prompt ac- 
quiescence and resolved to close the interview 
without delay. 

“ Thank you, Jim,” he said with an assumption 
of great heartiness. “ I’ll do as much for you 
some day. I want to borrow that money of 
yours, the whole sum of it, for a short time.” 

“ Why, yes, sir, of course. You could have 
taken it without asking me,” he replied, much 
fiattered by his father’s treatment and consider- 
ation of him. 

The lawyer smiled at his response a little 
grimly. 

“ Thank you,” he said briefly, “ but I shall 
have to have your signature in order to draw 
the money out. I’ll take you with me to the 


AN ILLEGAL TRANSACTION 281 


bank in the morning. I’ll want you at my office 
at a quarter to ten, sharp,” he said. “ Mind you 
are on time, as the banks open at ten and I shall 
be in a hurry.” 

“Yes, sir,” replied Jim, understanding this as 
his dismissal and rising. “ I’ll be on time, sir.” 
And turning, he left the room. 

“ Mind you don’t go bothering Mrs. Allen at 
the hospital,” his father called after him sharply. 
“I’ll be able to give you news when you come 
home to dinner.” 

“All right. Thanks,” replied his son duti- 
fully. 

Mr. Griggs waited until he heard the front 
door close behind the boy. Then rising hastily, 
he gathered up several papers, placed them in 
his pocketbook and taking his hat, quitted the 
house. As he had told Jim his intention was, 
he turned his steps to the nearest telegraph 
station. 

He wrote two messages, both addressed to 
Amsden. The first was to the station master, 
inquiring into the particulars of the railway 
accident of the previous day and the extent of 
the injuries sustained by Katharine Allen. The 
wording of the second message seemed more 


282 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


difficult to form and the lawyer wasted several 
blanks before appearing satisfied. When fin- 
ished the telegram read : 

“ P. T. Smith, R-eal Estate Agent, 

“ Amsden Ohio, — 

“ Transfer land northwest of town known as 
Allen property to my name. Sale completed. 
Deeds forwarded. Letter follows. 

“ JosiAH H. Griggs.” 

Mr. Griggs passed the two telegrams in through 
the window and waited while the operator read 
them over. He started slightly as the man be- 
gan to count over the words of the second 
message, then bit his lip for his betrayal of 
nervousness. 

He paid for the two telegrams and started to 
go. He could not restrain the impulse to turn 
back and ask the man if they would be sent at 
once. The operator nodded an affirmative and 
the lawyer went out into the street. 

Boarding a car, he went down town. Making 
his way through the tumult of the streets he 
went to his office, letting himself in with his 


AN ILLEGAL TRANSACTION 283 

latchkey. Unlocking his desk, he took out 
several papers. The deed of sale, made out and 
ready for the date and proper signatures, had 
lain ill the recess of his desk for some weeks. He 
placed several other papers into a separate enve- 
lope that they might be ready to hand on the 
following morning, then relocked his desk and 
door and retreated, almost tip-toeing down the 
silent halls. He felt like a thief in the night, 
so unnaturally still was everything around him, 
for all the other offices in the building were 
closed for the Fourth. 

Taking another car he went to the St. Ursula 
hospital, and after a moment’s delay was ushered 
into Mrs. Allen’s little sitting-room. 

She had evidently had no news of the accident. 
But Miss Coatlee, who was straightening the 
couch pillows, laid a warning finger on her lips. 
The lawyer understood and nodded his com- 
prehension as the nurse quitted the room. 

Good morning,” he said to the invalid, 
shaking hands heartily and striving to seem 
at ease. 

Mrs. Allen was apparently very glad to see 
him, and asked him, with undisguised eagerness, 
to sit down. She was feeling much better and 


284 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


the irksomeness of hospital life was beginning 
to wear upon her. She longed to come in 
touch once more with the outside world. She 
began to talk rapidly, asking numerous ques- 
tions about outside affairs and endeavoring to 
launch the lawyer forth upon a sea of gossip and 
chit-chat. 

Mr. Griggs exerted himself to be agreeable 
and succeeded admirably, Mrs. Allen being very 
susceptible to the charm of his manner. At 
length he deemed it prudent to introduce the 
subject of the errand upon w^hich he had come, 
and he put his hand to his breast-pocket, saying 
with affected carelessness : 

“ By the way, I have a paper with me 1 should 
like you to sign. It won’t take you a moment. 
It’s a document of no special importance, but it 
needs your name or I wouldn’t bother you.” 

“No bother at all,” Mrs. Allen assured him 
cheerfully. “Will you just hand me the pen 
and my portfolio ? They are on the table by 
the window.” 

Mr. Griggs rose to comply with her request, 
holding the envelope in his hand when there 
was a tap at the door and Miss Coatlee en- 
tered. 


AN ILLEGAL TRANSACTION 285 

“Mr. Brown is down-stairs, Mrs. Allen,” she 
said, “ and wants to know if he may see you at 
once ? ” 

Mr. Griggs stopped short and his face whit- 
ened. His back was turned so that Miss Coatlee 
did not perceive the effect her words had pro- 
duced. 

“ Why,” exclaimed the invalid gaily, “ I am 
very popular this morning ! ” 

The lawyer’s face was working with excite- 
ment. If Mr. Brown entered now all would be 
lost. Could he prevent him without rousing 
suspicion? With an effort he composed him- 
self and turning, said coolly : 

“Mrs. Allen will be very glad to see Mr. 
Brown, I’ve no doubt. But may I detain you 
an instant. Miss Coatlee? This document re- 
quires two witnesses.” 

He placed the portfolio quietly on Mrs. Allen’s 
knee and she scratched her signature carelessly 
across the place indicated and handed the pen 
to Miss Coatlee. Mr. Griggs, hearing a footstep 
in the hall, stepped to the open door and sum- 
moned a passing maid, who entered and Avithout 
comment, wrote her name beneath that of the 
trained nurse. 


286 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Then, with admirable coolness, the lawyer 
deliberately refolded and placed the paper in 
its envelope and with no show of haste, wished 
Mrs. Allen good morning and took his leave. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
FAEMEE GEAY IMPAETS NEWS 

The doctor summoned by the anxious farm- 
er’s wife, bent over the form of the unconscious 
girl and shook his head gravely. He listened 
to her breathing, lifted one of the inert hands 
and counted the pulse critically. The farmer’s 
wife stood by, watchful and ready to be of any 
possible service. 

“ I guess you don’t happen to have any aro- 
matic spirits of ammonia in the house ? ” he re- 
marked interrogatively. 

‘‘ No, we ain’t,” replied the woman regretfully, 
feeling as though she had neglected one of the 
duties of common safety. “ But we’ve got some 
regular ammonia, if that’ll do you any good.” 

She spoke in a high-pitched nasal voice, run- 
ning all her words together as if their separation 
and distinct enunciation would take too much 

time out of her busy, hard-working life. 

287 


290 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Another man joined the group. It was the 
station-master, off duty for supper. 

“ They’re telegraphin’ for news of the wreck 
from all ’round, doc,” he said with a slight air 
of importance. “Both Erie and Lima want 
particulars. What’ll I give ’em, ’bout the 
wounded ? Huh ? ” 

“There isn’t much to say, George,” replied 
the doctor, drawing him aside. “Nobody’s hurt 
anything to speak of ’ceptin’ the engineer of the 
construction train ; he got two ribs broke and 
was scalded some. One of the brakemen of the 
accommodation’s broke his leg. He’s in here at 
Farmer Gray’s and I’m on my way to set it 
now.” 

The station-master took out a pad and pencil 
and wrote down the names of those hurt and 
the extent of their injuries, while the doctor 
recited the short list. 

“ Then there’s that young lady,” he finished. 
“She was holdin’ on to her pocketbook like 
grim death. Mrs. Gray and I took it a^vay and 
looked through it, but there wasn’t anything 
to tell us about her except a callin’ card with 
‘ Miss Katharine Allen’, on it and the same name 
is printed on the inside of her pocketbook. 


FARMER GRAY IMPARTS NEWS 291 

with ‘ Chicago ’ underneath. So I guess that’s her 
name and residence all right. You better tele- 
graph the papers a description of her, and ask 
the Chicago papers to copy. We’ll have news 
by morning then, if the young lady doesn’t 
come to before then to tell us where to send 
word to her friends.” 

The doctor turned back and entered the house 
again as he finished speaking, and with a word 
of thanks and a general good night to the rest 
of the group, the station-master departed to fill 
out his notes with particulars and to telegraph 
his news. Anything so exciting as a railway ac- 
cident — even a mild one — Avas a thrilling expe- 
rience to the little humdrum village. 

The sun had set and twilight had deepened into 
night before Katharine showed signs of return- 
ing consciousness. She was still dull and dazed 
from the effects of her bloAV and the nervous 
shock she had sustained. 

She tried to rise but her head swam and she 
sank weakly back among the pillows. The doc- 
tor, who Avas sitting beside her, bent over and 
asked her one or tAVO cpiestions, to satisfy him- 
self that her return to intelligence Avas complete. 

Katharine answered the questions rationally 


292 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


enough but showed no desire to talk. The doc- 
tor turned to the farmer’s wife. 

“ She’ s all right now,” he said. “ Give her a 
bit of that blackberry syrup of yours and let 
her sleep. A long night’s rest is all she needs 
now.” 

With some added instructions he quitted the 
house which soon settled down for the night. 
The farmer’s wife had set a bit of beef to sim- 
mer, and hearing her guest stir in the early 
morning, she tiptoed into the room with a cup- 
ful of steaming beef tea. Katharine, but half 
roused, drank the beverage gratefully and set- 
tled down into a deeper and more refreshing 
slumber. 

It was broad daylight when she awoke again 
and she sat erect in bed bewildered by the unfa- 
miliar surroundings. Then the memory of the 
accident returned to her and she put her hand 
to her head which ached dully. Then she felt 
herself carefully all over, to see that there were 
no broken bones. Having assured herself 
that she was whole, she cautiously advanced one 
foot outside the bed, then the other and stood 
on the floor. An unexpected reflection of 
herself in a mirror opposite brought forth an 


FARMER GRAY IMPARTS NEWS 293 

irrepressible peal of laughter. She was robed 
in an old-fashioned voluminous nightgown of 
white muslin many, many sizes too large for her, 
and her sunny curls were confined beneath a 
mammoth white night-cap. 

Her laughter penetrated to the kitchen, the 
communicating door to which was quickly 
opened and Mrs. Gray entered, bringing in with 
her a savory odor of frying bacon. 

“Well, honey,” she said cheerily, “I’m 
glad you’re feel in’ yourself again. Y^ou ain’t 
none the worse f’r your little shake-up, air you 
now ? ” 

Katharine grew serious again at once. 

“ Good morning,” she said brightly. “ 1 beg 
pardon for laughing in that silly fashion. “ I’m 
afraid I disturbed you. But I — I was sur- 
prised.” 

“No ’pologies, miss. We was only too 
pleased to hear the sound, ’nd know ’t you was 
all right.” 

“Yes, I’m quite all right. Please, would 
you mind telling me where I am and what has 
happened ? ” 

“Our name’s Gray. You was brung here 
from the accident.” 


294 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Then Mrs. Gray recited the details of the col- 
lision, and Katharine’s state of insensibility 
when she was carried to the farmhouse. 

“ And you mean to say that it’s next morning ! ” 
cried Katharine in dismay, suddenly waking 
to a realization of the facts. “ Dear me, how 
frightened everybody will be ! They won’t know 
what has become of me. Is there a telegraph 
station near, Mrs. Gray ? where I could send a 
message very soon ? ” 

“ Why, there’s the depot. I guess Mr. Gray’ll 
drive you down himself after breakfast. D’ you 
feel equal to dressin’ ? Them’s your clothes on 
the chair. They was a good sight wrinkled 
from the wet blanket what th’ men wrapped 
you in, to keep out th’ heat ’nd smoke. The car 
was burnin’, you know. I took the liberty o’ 
pressin’ ’em out f’r you.” 

“ That was awfully kind of you. You’ve 
been very good to me,” exclaimed Katharine, 
turning to the chair upon which her clothes lay 
in a neatly folded pile. 

Assuring Mrs. Gray that she felt perfectly 
well able to dress herself, she made a hurried 
toilet and went out into the kitchen. 

Farmer Gray was there alone, sitting in his 


FARMER GRAY IMPARTS NEWS 295 

shirt-sleeves before a large square table, spread 
with a red and white fringed cloth and set with 
thick white crockery. He greeted Katharine 
with voluble expressions of delight at her re- 
covery and insisted that she take her place at 
the table at once. 

“ There ain’t no use waitin’ f’r Mandy,” he 
said genially. “ She’s gone in with t’other one’s 
breakfast. The brakeman what got his leg 
broke was brung here too, you know. Set right 
down ’nd fall to. I guess you want to get 
through ’nd start otf ’bout them telegrams, 
huh ? ” he added, as Katharine sat down in the 
chair he indicated. I’ve got the mare all har- 
nessed so ’t we can start right off ’s soon ’s 
you’re done eatin’.” 

“ That’s awfully kind of you ! ” exclaimed 
Katharine, finding her vocabulary inadequate to 
all this consideration and thoughtfulness. “ I’m 
afraid I’m giving you all a lot of trouble.” 

“Not a mite. I ain’t got to go to the fields 
to-day, it bein’ the glorious Fourth, ’nd ’ll enj’y 
the ja’nt into the town.” 

“ I am anxious to let my friends know of my 
whereabout,” said Katharine, “ and I want to 
attend to my business here, too.” 


296 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“ Business ! Jiminy ! What business could 
a young lady like you be havin’ at Amsden ! ” 
“ It is in connection with some land here,” 
replied Katharine eagerly. “ I have come to 
learn more about some property my mother owns 
in this neighborhood.” 

The farmer looked up interestedly. 

Land ? Sho ! Wonder ’f ifc’s that five-acre 
piece down by th’ cross-roads, where they’ve 
be’n testin’ f’r oil. Griggs is the man’s name, 
from Chicago. You’re from Chicago, ain’t 
you ? ” he added. “ Any relation ? ” 

“ Yes, I’m from Chicago, but I’m no relation 
to Mr. Griggs. You say he has been testing 
for oil ? with what success did he meet ? ” asked 
Katharine in a voice tense with suppressed ex- 
citement. 

“ Why there’s hogsheads ’nd hogsheads to the 
minute, waitin’ to jDOur out. The w^hole county 
most is talkin’ of it,” replied the farmer en- 
thusiastically. “ Mebbe you’re his agent ? ” 

“ No, not exactly,” replied Katharine in a 
peculiar tone. 

Her eyes flashed and two spots of vivid 
crimson had kindled themselves in her cheeks. 
She thought the farmer must hear the loud 



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FARMER GRAY IMPARTS NEWS 297 

thumping of her heart. Her brain was a seeth- 
ing caldron of mingled excitement, jubilation 
and indignation. There was some fear too, lest 
she were already too late. 

“No,” she repeated rising, “Mr. Griggs is — or 
rather was, our agent. I think I’d like to send 
those telegrams now, Mr, Gray.” 


CHAPTEE XXIX 


THE DISCOVERY 

KATHAEmE did not talk much as she and 
Farmer Gray drove into the village. She sat by 
the old man’s side, her eyes roving unsee- 
ingly over the landscape. Farmer Gray was 
excited and curious, but she replied to his 
countless string of questions in absent-minded 
monosyllables. After a time the garrulous old 
man grew offended by her reticence and drove 
along in sullen silence. 

“ I don’t want to poke my nose into nobody’s 
consarns,” he said presently, addressing an im- 
aginary audience. “ It’s a queer strain’t runs 
through human natur’ ’nd makes folks grow 
purse proud ’s they grow rich ! ” 

Oh, Mr. Gray,” exclaimed Katharine remorse- 
fully, perceiving the reproach implied in his 
words. “ I didn’t mean to be rude or proud. 
But I — oh, you don’t know how much this all 

298 


THE DISCOVERY 


299 


means to me ! There’s so much at stake and 
its all so uncertain yet, and — oh, I’m really too 
excited to talk about it ! ” 

She was indeed too much wrought up to talk 
calmly of the matter, or even to think of it 
rationally. As yet she had hardly grasped the 
meaning of it all — the enormity of the change 
of fortune that had come to her. 

In spite of all her dreams and hopes in regard 
to the Ohio property, her presentiment concern- 
ing it and her ardent unwillingness that her 
mother should sell it ; in spite of all this she 
had not considered the probability of real, sub- 
stantial riches. 

The words, “ hogsheads ’nd hogsheads of oil 
to the minute, waitin’ to pour out ” repeated 
themselves over and over in her brain, like the 
motive of an opera which, while it is lovely 
enough in itself to hold the attention, is so 
fraught with outside suggestions and possibilities 
that it thrills and exalts the imagination to the 
utmost heights of anticipation. 

Then, there was the revelation of Mr. Griggs’ 
probable treachery, and the necessity of prompt 
action lest the land pass from her mother’s hands 
to his, to be considered and feared. 


300 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

Her thoughts at last threw her into a fever 
of excited impatience and the cheerful ^dog-trot 
of the placid mare suddenly grew unbearably 
slow. 

“ Do you suppose we could drive a little 
faster ? ” she asked tentatively. “ I am so anx- 
ious to get my telegrams sent.” 

“ Yes, I just guess you are. G’loug, Bess,” re- 
plied the farmer sympathetically, slapping the 
reins vigorously. Katharine’s apology had fully 
appeased his evanescent wrath. “We’re most 
there, now,” he added encouragingly. “That 
next turnin’ ’ll take us to the depot.” 

“And afterwards, I’d like to go to the office 
or house of the land agent, who has charge of 
the ground. I don’t know his name, but I sup- 
pose there isn’t more than one land agent in the 
town, is there ? ” 

“'Naw. You’re right there. There ain’t only 
one ’nd lie’s about six other things besides. 
His house ain’t far up the street, but I guess 
mebbe you’ll find him here som’ers round the 
depot.” (He pronounced it deppo.) “ He don’t 
keep open shop on holidays and such.” 

As he finished speaking they rounded a sharp 
curve in the road and turned into the village 


THE DISCOVERY 


301 


street. station-master was sitting out on 

an empty baggage truck, talking to several men 
who sat or stood about in various attitudes of 
lounging. 

They were evidently discussing the event of 
the day before and Katharine caught the sound 
of her own name as they drew up alongside the 
platform. She demurred at their driving so 
close to the tracks and the farmer chuckled at 
her nervousness. 

“ Aw,” he said genially, “ this old mare 
wouldn’t start if you was to set off a whole 
Fourth o’ July celebration behin’ ’er, let alone 
an engine. Anyhow, there ain’t no trains to- 
day ” 

‘‘ No trains to-day ! ” echoed Katharine in 
distress, “why, I was hoping to get back to 
Lima to-day ! ” 

“ Then how’d you calc’late to do your busi- 
ness ? ” demanded the farmer. 

Just then the station master came up to them 
and offered to help Katharine down from the 
high wagon. He guessed the errand on which 
they had come and hardly waited for the 
farmer’s explanation that the young lady wanted 
to send word to her friends. He bustled into 


302 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


the station and got out liis blanks, saying the 
while that he was pleased to see her all right 
again. 

“ I just got a telegram askin’ about your 
health, ’nd how bad you was hurt,” he continued 
sociably, entering his office and installing him- 
self behind the railing of the telegraph stand. 
“ I Avas just tryin’ to get one o’ the fellers to 
go to Farmer Gray’s ’nd ask how you was, so I 
could send a proper answer when we seen you 
cornin’ along, ’s big ’nd well ’s life.” 

“ Yes, thank you, I am quite all right again,” 
replied Katharine, busy with her pencil. 
‘‘ Might I ask Avho sent the telegram about me ? ” 
she added with some hesitation, not knowing 
the etiquette of telegrams. 

“ Certainly. ’Twas Mr. Griggs — Chicago. 
Him what owns the land where they’ve found 
the big oil-Avells.” 

Katharine’s eyes flashed. 

“ Mr. Griggs doesn’t own that property,” she 
said coolly. “ It’s my mother’s.” 

The station-master stared. 

‘‘ By gum ! ” he ejaculated and was about to 
make some further remark when Katharine 
pushed her two telegrams across the desk. 


THE DISCOVERY 


303 


The station-master took them mechanically, 
counted the words, looked up the cost in his book, 
telegrams were not frequent enough from Ams- 
den to justify the effort of memorizing the rates, 
and made her change. 

The two messages merely conveyed to Mr. 
Brown in Chicago, and to his nephew in Lima, 
the information that Katharine was safe and 
well; had met with no serious injury as a result 
of the railway accident and requested the former 
to reassure her mother. 

She knew that later she must communicate 
with Mr. Brown as to her movements, but she 
wished to find out more first, if she could, regard- 
ing the land and Mr. Griggs’ supposed owner- 
ship. She was confused and upset by all she 
had heard. The general understanding that 
seemed to exist, that Mr. Griggs was the owner 
of the disputed property, frightened her. 

Could it be that after all a sale had been ef- 
fected between Mrs. Allen and Mr. Griggs, and 
that her mother had never told her ? Her heart 
sank at the idea, but she was determined not to 
lose hope. It was not natural for Mrs. Allen 
to be secretive on any subject, and Katharine 
felt moderately certain that on this point, one of 


304 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


so much disagreement, her mother would have 
been only too eager to impart news of any sort. 

No, there was some other reason. Probably 
Mr. Griggs had been so sure of ultimately ac- 
quiring the land that he had given it out that 
he was the actual possessor. Well, whatever the 
mystery, she would find it out. She could not 
get away from Amsden until the f (flowing day, 
which left her ample time for ferreting out the 
enigma. 

The recollection that she could not leave Ams- 
den that day occurred to her as she was passing 
out of the station and she turned back to add a 
few words to her Lima telegram to say that she 
would not return until the following evening. 
Another piece of strategy flashed into her mind 
and she resolved to act upon it. 

“ Have you sent an answer to Mr. Griggs’ tele- 
gram about me ? ” she asked pausing. 

“ I was just goin’ to.” 

“ Well, do you mind not being too — too exact ? 
Tell him I was carried to a farmhouse near the 
tracks and — and that I’m out of danger and do- 
ing nicely.” 

The operator stared. 

“Please say that,” she urged, smiling per- 


THE DISCOVERY 305 

suasiv^ely. “ It’s all right. It’s — ^it’s a sort of 
joke.” 

This explanation proved satisfactory. The 
operator agreed with a grin. 

Then Katharine sought Farmer Gray to ask 
him if he would take her as a boarder until the 
following day. 

“ Jiminy, no ! Not as a boarder ! ” ejaculated 
the farmer, offended. “We’ll be no end glad, 
Mandy ’nd me, to have you stay with us ’s long 
’s you can. But there ain’t no talk o’ takin’ 
boarders down our way.” 

“ I beg your pardon, Mr. Gray, I didn’t mean 
to hurt your feelings,” said Katharine quickly, 
yet secretly amused at his touchiness. “ You’re 
awfully kind,” she added, “ and I’ll accept your 
hospitality very gratefully. You see, I can’t 
get away from Amsden if there’s no train, and 
I don’t suppose the hotel ” 

“The hotel! Jiminy, no!” exploded the 
farmer, with more eloquence in his expletive 
than in a King’s counsel. “Oh, I say,” he 
added, “ you was sayin’ ’s how you wanted to 
see the land agent. AVell this is him here. 
Mr. Philemon Titus Smith,” and he jerked his 
thumb toward the knot of loungers, 

20 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


306 

The man thus introduced approached, took 
his hands out of his pockets and touched his 
cap. 

“ How d’ y do, miss,” he said awkwardly. 

“ How do you do, Mr. Smith,” replied Katha- 
rine gravely. ‘‘ You are the man who has 
charge of a certain piece of property near here, 
I believe ? ” 

“ You mean the Griggs land, where they’ve 
discovered oil ? ” 

“ AYho has discovered oil, and why do you 
persist in calling it Mr. Griggs’ land ? ” de- 
manded Katharine a little breathlessly. Her 
patience was wearing out. “ That property 
belongs to my mother, Mrs. Gordan Allen. Mr. 
Griggs is our lawyer and if he has been tamper- 
ing with the land in any way it is without our 
knowledge or permission, and must be looked 
into.” 

Smith regarded her with bashful admiration, 
and for answer hauled a folded piece of yellow 
paper out of his pocket. 

“ I guess this here’ll explain why, I calls it 
the Griggs’ land,” he said with a grin. 

Katharine turned white. She felt dizzy and 
faint. With an effort she took the telegram 


THE DISCOVERY 


307 

which he extended to her, unfolded and read it. 
Her hands shook so that she could hardly hold 
the paper. 

“ P. T. Smith, Real Estate Agent, 

“ Anisden, Ohio,— 

“ Transfer land northwest of town known as 
Allen property to my name. Sale completed. 
Deeds forwarded. Letter follows. . 

“JosiAH H. Geiggs.” 

Katharine’s eyes rested dully on the words. 
She felt miserable and depressed in her defeat. 
Then her glance detected the date of the des- 
patch and renewed hope flashed into her 
heart. 

“ You got this telegram just now ? ” 

“ Why, yes,” he answered. “ ’Course, this 
bein’ a legal holiday, I can’t do nothin’ ’bout it 
to-day. But I guess there ain’t no hurry. He 
alius did speak of it ’s his, anyhow. We ’bout 
here ’ve alius looked on it ’s bein’ his. He went 
t’ all th’ expense o’ testin’ f’r oil ’nd all. I ’spect 
it’s his all right ’nough ’nd I guess there ain’t no 
hurry ’bout recordin’ the deed.” 


308 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“No, I guess not — for you,” replied Katharine 
ambiguously. 

Without waiting to explain herself she turned 
and hurried into the station. The operator was 
busy sending off his telegrams. Seizing a blank, 
Katharine took up the pencil and wrote hur- 
riedly. 

“ This must go off at once,” she said emphatic- 
ally. “ And there will be an answer. Can 
you send it to me at Mr. Gray’s or must I come 
back for it ” 


CHAPTER XXX 


TWO TELEGRAMS 

Mr. Brown, attired in a marvelously flowered 
dressing-gown, entered liis library, and took up 
a voluminous bundle of newspapers, commeno- 
rative of the day with red white and blue flags 
decorating the pages. After a long preliminary 
search for his glasses which were not where he 
was sure he had laid them, he settled down in 
his particular easy chair to read. But before he 
had time even to glance over the head-lines of 
the flrst page, he ^vas interrupted by a tap on the 
door and a servant entered with a telegram. 

“Well, at last !” ejaculated Mr. Brown at 
sight of the yellow envelope, for he had ex- 
pected to hear from Katharine the previous 
evening. 

He tore open the envelope, wondering amus- 
edly if she had sent the message at night rates to 
save expense. But when he read the words, his 
expression changed : — 

309 


310 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


“Not injured in accident. Tell motEer am 
all right. Will telegraph later about land. Ex- 
pect great things. 

“ Kathaeiio: Allen.” 

Puzzled, anxious, frightened, the good old 
man read the telegram through several times, 
then dropped it to seize the paper. A few turns 
of the pages brought to view the column relat- 
ing to the collision ; the column that had al- 
ready caused Mr. Griggs such a pang of terror 
that morning. Mr. Brown read through the 
details of the accident with paling cheeks and 
then took up the telegram again to assure him- 
self of Katharine’s safety, thankful that it had 
arrived before he had seen the report. 

“ The poor lass ! ” he groaned. “ What an 
experience for her to have been through. Why 
didn’t I go myself ! Bless my soul, what a risk 
I took ! ” and he removed his glasses to wipe the 
moisture off them. 

Then he bustled into his wife’s room to tell 
her the news. Mrs. Brown was dressing to go 
out in the midst of a most astonishing accom- 
paniment of rustling silk. 

“ What’s that ! ” she cried in a tone of muffled 


TWO TELEGRAMS 


311 

alarm, she held a pin between her teeth, 
“ Kate in a railway accident ! Oh, Anthony, 
how could you have let her go off alone ! ” 

“ But I tell you, she’s all right, Mary. Here’s 
a telegram from herself to tell me she’s safe and 
unharmed. She asks me to tell her mother and 
I must go up to the hospital at once. Dear me, 
I’m afraid the poor mother will be sadly upset. 
The account in the paper is most alarming. I 
must hasten. Dear me, these frogs won’t undo. 
Mary, lend me a hand.” 

He fumbled helplessly at the fastenings of his 
dressing-gown, glancing toward the clock the 
while. 

Bless my soul, how late it is ! ” he groaned, 
dropping his collar button in his haste. “ A 
most reprehensible habit this, of rising late in 
the morning. A most reprehensible habit. 
Mary, dear, have^ou seen my necktie ? ” 

“ You can take the carriage, dear,” said Mi’s. 
Brown, producing the tie from its accustomed 
drawer. “ There will be plenty of time for you 
to be driven around there before I am ready to 
use it. Remember that we go to the Gowans’ 
for luncheon. I’ll drive to the house direct from 
town, and meet you there.” 


312 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


The nervous old gentleman wasted a good 
deal of time endeavoring to liasten his toilet, and 
when at last he was dressed and descending to 
the carriage, he met Dr. Warren at the door. 

The doctor too had seen the account of the 
collision in the newspaper and was terribly 
alarmed by it. He had rushed to the hospital 
immediately to warn Miss Coatlee against letting 
Mrs. Allen see the morning papers or hear of 
the accident until they could get the facts, 
and then he had dashed olf in search of Mr. 
Brown. 

The banker showed him Katharine’s telegram 
and told his errand. Immeasurably relieved, 
the doctor drove back home to give the cheer- 
ing news of Katharine’s safety to his distracted 
wife and daughter. He found Mrs. Warren 
packing a satchel, while Alice was struggling 
with the intricacies of a time-table. 

“ It’s all right ! ” cried the doctor joyfully, 
bursting in upon them at their tearful tasks. 
“It’s all right. The newspaper reporter must 
liave made a grand blunder somewhere, for Mr. 
Brown has just had a telegram from Kate her- 
self to say that she’s well and safe.” 

“ Well and safe ! Oh, papa, how thankful I 


TWO TELEGRAMS 


313 


am ! ” sobbed the emotional Alice, throwing 
herself into her father’s arms. 

“ But surely there was some sort of an acci- 
dent ! How bad was it and what was Katha- 
rine doing ’way up in that out-of-the-way 
place?” inquired Mrs. Warren curiously. 

The doctor shook his head mysteriously. 

“ We shall have to wait for the answer to that 
question,” he said. “ Let it be enough for us 
now that Kate is Avell and unharmed.” 

‘Wes, that is enough for me,” said Alice. 

“ But I should like to know what she was do- 
ing up there,” added her mother. “ I thought 
she was just going to Lima and back. Now, 
Alice, you run and bathe your eyes. You can’t 
go out with them all red like that.” And the 
systematic Mrs. Warren proceeded to take the 
things out of her half -packed satchel. 

In the meantime Mr. Brown was being rapidly 
driven to the St. Ursula Hospital. He sent an 
urgent message to Mrs. Allen’s room and chafed 
impatiently at the delay in being conducted to 
her presence. He paced the limited floor space 
of the tiny public reception-room until the rug 
was in danger of wearing, and finally resolved 
to follow his message up to the invalid’s room. 


314 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


As he entered the hall he caught sight of 
a familiar figure going out by the front door. 
It was Mr. Griggs. The lawyer did not see 
him, and paused at the top of the steps 
to stroke fondly a long, legal-looking enve- 
lope before buttoning it up inside his breast- 
pocket. 

Mr. Brown frowned. What was Mr. Griggs 
doing there at that time of day ? Had he seen 
the account of the accident in the papers and 
come to learn from her mother the reason of 
Katharine’s presence at Amsden ? If such were 
the case, he could not have received much satis- 
faction. But he might have alarmed Mrs. Allen. 
At this thought the good man checked the 
chuckle of delight at the lawyer’s supposed dis- 
comfiture, and hastened his pace. He was met 
at the turn of the stairs by the maid sent to 
summon him. 

His first glance told him that, as yet, Mrs. 
Allen knew nothing. He found it a little awk- 
ward under the circumstances, to break the 
news, but decided that the best way was to let 
her see the telegram. Mrs. Allen read it through 
unsuspectingly, and then dropped it with a 
scream. 


TWO TELEGRAMS 


315 

“ What accident ? Where ? where ? ” she 
cried with strong symptoms of hysterics. 

Mr. Brown got up, sat down again, and took 
out his pocket-handkerchief agitatedly. 

“ Be calm, dear lady, be calm. The worst is 
over — ah — I mean, the worst is ended. I 
thought you would rather have the good news 
first.” 

“ First ! ” shrieked Mrs. Allen. Then there 
is bad news to come ! Oh ! oh ! How can I 
bear it ! Oh ! oh ! ” 

‘‘There is nothing to bear, Mrs. Allen,” in- 
terposed Miss Coatlee, in the firm even tones 
that never failed to calm the invalid. “ Don’t 
you see that the telegram is from your daughter 
herself and says that she is unharmed ? ” 

Then the nurse related the news wdiich the 
morning papers had contained regarding the 
collision, and Mr. Brown, promising to send her 
word the moment he had any further report 
from Katharine, departed. He made his way 
leisurely to his club, there to finish comfortably 
the perusal of the morning journal which had 
been interrupted in so disturbing a manner. 

He read slowly, pausing at intervals to ex- 
change greetings with new arrivals, until it was 


3i6 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


time for him to keep his engagement at Mrs. 
Gowan’s. It being but a short distance from 
the club to Judge Gowan’s house, he walked 
there, arriving in good time for a very ample 
repast over which the four elderly people 
lingered comfortably. 

It transpired that Judge and Mrs. Go wan had 
planned to take their guests for a drive in the 
afternoon, dropping them at their own house at 
the end of it. So that it was after five o’clock 
when Mr. Brown reached home again and was 
given Katharine’s second telegram. It had 
come, the servant said, about twenty minutes 
after he had left the house that morning. 

Nearly seven hours of time wasted ! How 
Katharine must have wondered at his delay ! 
Mr. Brown read the telegram and groaned aloud. 
The words of the message were as follows : — 

“ Me. N. a. Beown : 

“39 Place, 

“ Chicago, Hlinois. 

“ Griggs claims land in despatch sent to agent 
dated to-day. Learn if mother agreed to sale. 
Oil in quantities. Telegraph what to do. Am 
staying with kind people. 

“ Kathaeine Allen.” 


TWO TELEGRAMS 


317 


Mr. Brown started in dumb dismay at the 
words, Griggs claims land.” He suddenly re- 
membered the document that the lawyer had 
held in his hand that morning on the hospital 
steps, and he feared the w^orst. 

Then his judgment returned. He too grasped 
the significance of the date of Mr. Griggs’ tele- 
gram to Amsden. He sprang to his feet, realiz- 
ing that it was very stupid of him to sit there 
mooning when Katharine was no doubt worry- 
ing over his silence. 

Without waiting even to explain his hasty 
departure to his wife, he put on his hat and left 
the house. He went down town, thinking his 
message would be sent off more promptly from 
a big central office. On the way he planned his 
course of action, and entering the telegraph 
office demanded of the boy at the desk a pad of 
blanks. 

“ I want to write a letter by telegraph,” he 
stated calmly, and proceeded to put down his 
instructions with a cool disregard as to the 
number of words that filled the operator with 
awed amazement. 


CHAPTER XXXI 
HOPE DEFERRED 

It had been a long, hard day to Katharine. 
When they got back to the farmhouse, she 
found her hostess dressed and ready to go into 
the village, where the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was to be read and speeches made. She 
was evidently desirous that their young guest 
should accompany them, but Katharine begged to 
be excused on account of a headache. She really 
did feel jarred and sore after her shaking up of 
the day before. And she was too excited and 
too uncertain of her self-control to bear the 
strain of sitting through long hours in a crowd, 
the cynosure of all eyes. She felt tolerably 
sure that the incident at the station had already 
been whispered abroad and she was in too 
sensitive a mood to endure the whisperings and 
nudgings and noddings that would no doubt 
accompany her appearance in public. 

“Let her alone, Mandy,” called the farmer 


HOPE DEFERRED 


319 


from the back bedroom, where he was strug- 
gling with the intricacies and unyieldingnesses of 
a “ b’iled shirt.” Of course she don’t want to 
go. She’s too tuckered out to sit through one 
of Judge Wedon’s speeches. ’Nd anyhow, she’s 
worried. Let her stay to hum, ’nd get her 
mind off of herself.” 

Before they left Katharine asked for writing 
materials and was supplied with some commer- 
cial note-paper, heavily ruled, a bottle of faded 
ink that had evidently been replenished at 
the water bucket, and a funny spluttery, rusty 
pen. She sat down in her room by the window 
through which she could keep one eye on the 
road, and, to ease her turbulent brain, wrote a 
long letter to Mr. Brown, giving the details of 
her journey, the accident, her own recovery and 
the great pieces of news, good and bad, that she 
had heard that morning. 

The hours passed. The farmer and his wife 
returned from the village and Katharine was 
summoned to dinner. But still no telegram came 
from Mr. Brown. What was the reason ? Why 
hadn’t he answered her despatch ? Could it be 
that he had not received it ? Or had he seen 
Mr. Griggs, learned the worst and hesitated to 


320 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


tell her ? Perhaps the telegram had come and 
had not been delivered. The station-master had 
promised to send it out by one of his own 
sons the instant he received it. But he might 
have been prevented in some way. 

Two o’clock ; three o’clock, and still no word. 
At four o’clock she could wait no longer. She 
resolved to go into the village and learn for her- 
self whether the message had come. 

She did not tell Farmer Gray of her intention, 
lest his sense of hospitality should prompt his 
escort, and take the mare out for a third trip to 
the village. It was not a long walk and the 
exercise would no doubt do her good after her 
day of enforced idleness. 

Telling Mrs. Gray that she was going for a 
walk, she put on her hat, took her letter and 
started off for the town. The road was easy to 
follow and the well-beaten earth felt firm and 
springy to her feet. She quite enjoyed her 
stroll through the late afternoon sunshine. The 
young green of the fields lent a clearness to the 
sparkling atmosphere that made the dark earth 
of the new-plowed soil a restful background. 

But disappointment greeted her at the end. 
No word of any sort had come for her. 


HOPE DEFERRED 


321 

Katharine was bitterly disappointed and very 
anxious as well. 

“Are you sure — do you think there could 
have been any mistake in sending the telegram ? 
The wrong address put or anything ? ” she asked 
hesitatingly. 

The operator shook his head. 

“Not unless you wrote it wrong,” he said. 
“1 sent it right after you left this morning. 
But if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll call up 
Chicago ’nd ask ’em ’f ’twas received all right.” 

“ Oh, if you would ! ” exclaimed Katharine 
gratefully. “I should be ever so much 
obliged ! ” 

The-good-natured operator clicked at his in- 
strument and in due time received word that 
the two telegrams addressed to A. N. Brown, 
Esq., had both been received and delivered. 

Katharine was now utterly at a loss to ex- 
plain the silence of Mr. Brown. Disappointed 
and sick at heart she quitted the station and 
wandered down the street. She was tempted 
to follow the road which Farmer Gray had point- 
ed out to her in the morning as leading to the 
disputed property. But she realized that she 
could accomplish nothing by going, that the 
21 


322 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


land was over a mile away and that she prob- 
ably would not know the place when she came 
to it. 

So she retraced her steps, and coming to a 
large stump by the roadside, where a tree had 
been felled, she sat down on it and let her 
thoughts wander away into a sad reverie. 

All her lovely castles in the air had tumbled 
about her ears and had burst like so many bub- 
bles. She feared that Mr. Griggs had really 
managed to get the land from her mother and a 
fierce rage burned in her heart against him for 
his treachery. That he should have taken so 
base an advantage of two powerless women, 
ignorant of the ways of the law ! 

Perhaps Mr. Brown could still regain the land 
from him on the plea that it had been sold un- 
der false pretexts. Mr. Brown ! Bat why had 
he not sent any answer to her telegram ? Had 
he, too, deserted her ? A sense of utter help- 
lessness and desolation swept over her. How 
could she, a young girl, cope single-handed 
^vith the tricks and deceits of an unscrupulous 
knave ! 

She heaved a sigh of utter discouragement 
and rose from the stump, suddenly realizing that 


HOPE DEFERRED 


323 


she must have been sitting there for a very long 
time. The sun had set and it was already 
growing dusk. 

She walked rapidly along the country road, 
her mind now entirely given up to the thought 
of getting back to Farmer Gray’s as speedily as 
possible, before it was really dark. She was not 
afraid of losing her way and felt safe enough 
on the quiet road, with the farmhouses not 
very far apart. Still, she glanced apprehensively 
at the fields on either side of her, and started once 
or twice as her eye caught some deeper shadow. 
Once, when a toad hopped across the path, she 
nearly screamed, and her heart gave a wild bound. 

Deeper and deeper grew the purple twilight 
and still she was very far from her destination. 
Suddenly she stopped short and listened. Yes, 
footsteps were certainly advancing behind her ! 
A cold wave of fear swept over her as she moved 
on again, this time faster, and faster still, until 
her pace had quickened almost to a run. But 
to her dismay, the footsteps behind quickened 
too — were running ! They gained rapidly on 
her and now, giving a terrified glance over her 
shoulder, she could perceive a dark figure loom 
ing up against the shadowy gloaming. 


324 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


AVith a stifled exclamation of terror, Katha- 
rine broke into a run. The footsteps behind 
ran too, and faster than she. She could hear 
the breathing of her pursuer as he gained on 
her. Then suddenly a voice called out : 

“ Oh, I say, stop, can’t you ? 1 ain’t goin’ 

t’ hurt you ! Hold on, I’m tryin ’t’ catch up 
with you. I got somethin’ f’r you.” 

These words brought Katharine to an abrupt 
halt, and the boy, not expecting her to stop so 
suddenly, nearly ran her down before he could 
check himself. 

“ Say,” he began, as soon as he had recovered 
himself, “ ain’t your name Katharine Allen ? ” 

“ Yes, it is,” she answered promptly. “ AYhat 
have you got for me ? ” 

AYhat for did you want to run away from 
me?” demanded the boy with a grin. “AYas 
it a joke, or was you scared ? ” 

“ I was in a hurry to get home,” replied Kath- 
arine coldly, stung by his smile. “ Give me 
what you’ve got for me,” and she held out her 
hand imperatively. 

‘‘ 1 guess you was in a liurry,” said the boy, 
taking his cap off and running his fingers through 


HOPE DEFERRED 


325 


his already tousled hair. “ Say, you can run 
purty well f r a girl.” 

“ Thank you,” said Katharine stiffly, “ but I 
wish you’d give me what you have for me. Is 
it a telegram ? ” 

Why, yes, so ’tis a telegram,” answered the 
boy with provoking coolness, and he drew it 
slowly out of his pocket. “Father said he 
guessed you was kinder expectin’ it. ’Nd he 
said he guessed you’d find it long enough to 
make up, kinder, f’r waitin’.” 

Katharine tore open the envelope and tried to 
read the words by tlie dying daylight. 

“ It’s too dark,” she exclaimed disappointedly. 
“ I’ll have to wait till I get to the house.” 

“Yep. It’s too dark t’ see t’ read here. Say, 
don’t you want me t’ see you home ? You sure 
you won’t be scared ’r nothin’ ? ” asked the boy 
with another grin. 

“ No, I’m not afraid,” replied Katharine, too 
well pleased with her telegram to take offense. 
“ It’s only a short distance farther. Thank you 
for bringing me this. Good night.” 

The telegram, when read by the light of 
Farmer Gray’s kitchen lamp, restored Katharine 
to the heights of hope. It was indeed, a “ letter 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


326 

by telegraph.” In his haste, Mr. Brown had 
not even been at pains to cut out his preposi- 
tions. 

He said that he would call upon Mr. Griggs 
the first thing in the morning ; warn Mrs. Allen 
at once against signing any document whatever, 
and would take immediate steps to dispute the 
sale if it had already been effected. Katharine 
was to remain in Amsden until affairs began to 
get settled, in case any one was needed to be on 
the spot. And in the meantime she was to find 
out everything to be learned concerning the 
property, and the advisability of opening up the 
oil-wells at once. 

After reading her telegram over and over, to 
assure herself of the comfort of its contents, 
Katharine went to bed with a light heart, and 
once again her dreams were tinged with rose- 
color. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


THE SLIP ^TWIXT THE CUP AND THE LIP 

Mil. Beown partook of a very early and very 
hasty breakfast on that eventful Saturday 
morning, and then, armed with Katharine’s two 
telegrams, was driven rapidly down town to Mr. 
Griggs’ office. 

That gentleman had awakened that morning 
with a peculiar sense of exaltation, as if some- 
thing very good were going to happen ; that 
excited sensibility which so often presages a 
catastrophe. “ Feeling fey ” the Scotch call it. 

He had resolved to go to Mrs. Allen’s direct 
from the bank, alleging the necessity of catching 
a train out of town for the day, as an apology 
for the matutinal visit. He felt moderately 
secure of his position, considering that the bill 
of sale, properly signed and witnessed, was in 
his possession. Yet he did not lose sight of 
the fact that his illegal transaction of business 

327 


328 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


could be easily traced if he did uot succeed in 
carrying out his intention of procuring Mrs. 
Allen’s further signature as a blind. But after 
all, that was a simple matter ! 

He began carelessly to hum a tuneless air as 
he arranged the papers on his desk. * If he had 
known of the interview held between Mr. Brown 
and Mrs. Allen on the pre\dous evening, he 
would not have been in so equable a frame of 
mind. 

As it was he started and grew white with a sick- 
ening sensation of alarm as a quick, imperative 
rap sounded on his office door. Before he had 
time to compose himself and bid the unexpected 
visitor to enter, the portal swung wide and Mr. 
Brown came in. 

The two men stood eyeing each other in a 
long silence. The lawyer read the discovery of 
his guilt, the judgment and the sentence in the 
other man’s stern face. He staggered and 
clutched the desk to support himself. Then 
his cool effrontery returned to him, and he 
straightened himself, trying to put a convincing 
amount of impertinence into his voice. 

. “ To what do I owe the pleasure of this very 
early visit, sir?” he asked, casting a glance of 


THE SLIP ’TWIXT CUP AND LIP 329 

shrewd inquiry at the banker, but taking care 
to avoid meeting his eye. 

Mr. Brown moved forward and sat down de- 
liberately in a chair facing the desk. 

“ I have come,” he said gravely, and ignoring 
the other’s manner, “ upon a matter of very seri- 
ous importance — a matter of the gravest impor- 
tance.” 

“ Ah, indeed ? ” observed the lawyer jocularly. 

Does the roof leak, or has a pipe burst ? Possi- 
bly the furnace wants to be cleaned. I dare say 
Mrs. Allen will be willing to order all repairs 
that are necessary.” 

The banker eyed him steadfastly. 

“It has nothing to do with repairs on the 
house, as you are very well aware.” 

“ How should I be very well aware ? I am 
nofc a mind-reader,” retorted IVIr. Griggs inso- 
lently. “That is generally the errand upon 
which tenants come to their landlord’s lawyer.” 

Mr. Griggs’ fright was making him reckless, 
and there was more impertinence in his tone than 
he Avould ordinarily have permitted himself in 
speaking to an older man. 

But Mr. Brown refused to take offense. 

“It is remarkable that you still have the 


330 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


effrontery to speak of yourself as Mrs. Allen’s 
man of business, in the face of your recent 
treatment of her,” he said bluntly. 

“ What recent treatment ? ” demanded the 
lawyer furiously, driven to bay. 

‘‘ Y our endeavoring to obtain possession of 
that Ohio property on the ground that it was 
worthless to her, when you knew all the time 
the fortune it contained in the shape of a rich 
vein of petroleum.” 

Mr. Griggs’ face grew livid. So here was 
Katharine’s ally. She had laid her plans well ! 

He replied in a choked voice : 

“ I said no more than was signified in her late 
husband’s will. Up to now — even yet, the 
land is not worth its taxes.” 

“Merely because the petroleum well has not 
yet been put into action.” 

Mr. Griggs saw that the game was nearly up 
and changed his tactics. 

“ Why do you say I ‘ endeavored ’ to get pos- 
session of the property ? ” he asked, with no 
attempt to disguise the elation in his voice. 

“ Because your efforts have not met ^vith suc- 
cess,” replied Mr. Brown quietly and unex- 
pectedly. 


THE SLIP TWIXT CUP AND LIP 331 

“ Indeed ? ” sneered the lawyer. “ Probably 
you are not aware that I hav’^e at this moment 
the bill of sale, duly signed and witnessed, in 
my pocketbook ; that the agent at Amsden has 
already been notified of the change of owner- 
ship and has doubtless long before this recorded 
the transaction in his books.” 

“ He has not already recorded the transaction 
in his books. And though I am aware that 
you have a bill of sale, signed and witnessed, 
as you say, in your possession, I am equally 
well aware that it is as useless to you as a 
sheet of blank paper. No,” he added with 
a short laugh, “ it is worse than useless. It is 
condemnatory.” 

Mr. Griggs’ face went from white to gray 
and a dull spot of purplish red stained each 
cheek. His hands clutched to control their 
trembling. His lips compressed and drew into a 
white, straight line. He was suffering visibly, 
but still would not give up the fight. 

“ What do you mean ! ” he muttered hoarsely. 

Mr. Brown shook himself impatiently. 

“ I mean what I say,” he replied harshly. 
“ Come, come, what- is the good of all this pa- 
laver ? It is only putting off the evil moment. 


332 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


I know that you have been acting in a mean 
piece of business and you know that I know it. 
And I know that you know that you’ve been 
caught in the act. So hand over the paper, dt 
once ! ” 

He rose and approached Mr. Griggs with his 
hand outstretched. The lawyer drew back 
with a snarl like a trapped beast. He buttoned 
his coat securely across his breast and faced the 
banker with cringing ferocity. 

“ I defy you to prove your words ! ” he said 
desperately. 

Mr. Brown was exasperated. 

‘‘ I have my proof here,” he replied, exhibit- 
ing the two telegrams. “ Moreover, I saw Mrs. 
Allen last night and had it from her own lips 
that she had signed no papers of any sort ex- 
cept one, yesterday morning ! ” 

‘‘ Well?” 

“ And business transacted on a holiday is not 
legal.” 

“ It is a lie ! ” biir^t out the lawyer frantically. 
‘‘ Mrs. Allen has signed several papers for me 
lately. “How does she know which of them 
was the bill of sale ? ” 

“That I dare say,” said Mr. Brown coolly, 


THE SLIP TWIXT CUP AND LIP 333 

quick to perceive his advantage, “ was doubtless 
the argument you had prepared with which to 
face the world, after Mrs. Allen had signed 
some other paper for you this morning. But I 
have forestalled that. Even if 1 had not gotten 
here in time to prevent your leaving your 
office, Mrs. Allen has received instructions and 
would have refused to put her name to any- 
thing. 

“ Furthermore,” he went on, “ Katharine Allen 
is in Amsden, looking after her interests at that 
end of the line.” 

Looking after her interests ! She^s lying 
insensible at a farmhouse in the country ! ” 
interrupted the lawyer with a returning gleam 
of triumph. 

He took out the station-master’s telegram. 
Mr. Brown read it, recognized Katharine’s dicta- 
tion and smiled. 

“True, she was insensible for a time,” he 
answered serenely. “She was stunned by a 
blow, but a good night’s rest in the kind far- 
mer’s house restored her sufficiently to intercept 
your fatally dated telegram to the land agent, 
and to explain to him the slight mistake that 
has been made ” 


334 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


Mr. Brown glanced at his victim and his tone 
of mocking raillery changed quickly. 

“Yon are ill, man ! Sit down a minute,” he 
said with rough kindness. 

He could not help feeling sorry for the miser- 
able, cowering wTetch before him. 

Neither spoke for a time and then Mr. Griggs 
raised his head and asked thickly : 

“ What are you going to do with me ? ” 

“ If you will give up that bill of sale, and resign 
the control of Mrs. Allen’s affairs at once and 
forever, she will not prosecute you, other- 
wise ” 

The cowed lawyer drew the long yellow enve- 
lope from his pocket and with a shaking hand 
laid it on the desk. Mr. Brown took up the 
paper — for he was still suspicious of the man — 
opened it and read it through. 

“ Have you any duplicates ? ” he asked. 

Mr. Griggs shook his head. 

“ Just give me a word of writing to that effect,” 
said the practical man of business. 

Then he took the bill of sale, tore it into 
half a dozen long, clean strips, lighted a match 
and burned them, one after another, until a little 
heap of blackened ashes lay on the desk. He 


THE SLIP TWIXT CUP AND LIP 335 

took the written sheet the lawyer handed him, 
read it through to see that it was worded as he 
wished, and folded it. 

“ I want two other documents,” he said coolly, 

a telegram written out by you, which I will 
send myself, to the agent in Ohio. And your 
resignation from the charge of Mrs. Allen’s 
affairs.” 

Mr. Griggs wrote as he was directed, without 
a word or gesture of protest. He was, indeed, 
a broken man. 

When everything was concluded to his satis- 
faction, Mr. Brown rose, took up his hat and left 
the office with a cool nod. 

Left alone, the lawyer leaned his arms on the 
desk and buried his humiliated face in them. 
His wealth, his ambition, his reputation, all were 
gone — shattered at a blow ! What did life 
hold for him more ? 

He was roused by the quick opening of the 
door and the loud, jovial voice of his son. 

“ All right, father. Here I am on time. I 
had to bolt for it though. Why, hello ! What’s 
up ? ” he exclaimed, stopping short and regard- 
ing his father’s bowed figure with apprehension. 
“Had bad news ?” 


336 HER FATHER’S LEGACY 

Mr. Griggs looked up at him with anguished 
eyes. 

“ Oh, my boy, my boy ! ” he groaned. It 
will fall hardest upon you ! ” 

Then, with the honesty of despair, he made a 
clean breast of the whole matter to his son. 
Jim sat in wide-eyed horror, listening to his fath- 
er’s confession. It was a prostrating blow — this 
sudden complete uprooting of all his childhood’s 
faith and love. 

But his loyalty triumphed. 

“ Never mind, father dear,” he said brokenly, 
going close to his father’s side. “ I’m terribly 
sorry. But you didn’t do it, you know, at the end. 
And we can gosomew^here and start over again, 
can’t we ? ” 

He held out his hand and his father grasped 
it in shame-faced gratitude. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


ALL^S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 

And so it all turned out in true story-book 
fashion. 

Farmer Gray’s estimation of the oil-well as 
containing hogsheads ’nd hogsheads to the 
minute ” was not exaggerated, and before another 
year, the income resulting from the “ waste land ” 
had exceeded Katharine’s highest flights of fancy. 

She and her mother did not go to Europe 
that summer, as Katharine had at flrst suggested. 
Mrs. Allen did not feel equal to the effort of 
touring, and they could hardly be gone long 
enough, if they would return in time for the open- 
ing of Miss Greaves’ school, to stop for long in 
any one place. 

“ When your education is completed,” Mrs. 
Allen said, “ we can go over there and live for 
two or three years, and you can study music or 
something. But it would be deadly to go rush- 
23 337 


338 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


ing about from one place to another with a guide 
and a program of things to see. I’d much 
rather go to some fashionable summer resort in 
this country for the hot months.” 

So Mr. and Mrs. Brown broached their own 
plan, and extended their invitation to Mrs. Allen 
and Katharine to spend the summer with them 
at Mackinac. The two accepted the invitation 
heartily and the plan succeeded most delight- 
fully. 

Katharine became the belle of the little circle 
of young people at Mackinac, and Lakeside the 
center of attraction. Mr. Brown bought a boat 
for her use and Mrs. Brown threw open the 
house nightly to merry groups of boys and girls, 
who constituted themselves into an informal sup- 
per party or spent the evening on the broad, 
lantern-illumined veranda, playing laughter-pro- 
voking games or singing, in a not always har- 
monious but hearty chorus, college and popular 
songs to the accompaniment of guitar and banjo. 

The halls and rooms of Lakeside were made 
more cheery by the patter of baby feet and the 
ring of baby laughter, for Mr. Brown had invited 
liis nephew and family to join the happy party 
at Mackinac. 


ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 339 

Alice Warren, too, paid a protracted visit to 
Katharine, and Dr. and Mrs. Warren were in- 
duced to come for such time as the busy doctor 
could spare from his patients, for a little va- 
cation. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were very happy in this 
newly acquired “family,” as they called their 
merry household. But Mr. Brown had to be 
away more or less. He was superintending per- 
sonally the erecting and opening of the oil-wells, 
and his business carried him often to Chicago 
and Amsden. At the latter village he always 
found a hearty if homely welcome with Farmer 
Gray and his kind rheumatic old wife. 

Katharine had not forgotten the kindness of 
all those who had helped her at the time of her 
misfortune. She had not dared to risk offending 
the farmer at the end of her visit with them, by 
offering him money for her board. But she had 
kept her eyes and ears open during her stay and 
soon after her return to Chicago, the lifelong 
desires of each of the two old people was fulfilled. 
Farmer Gray led into his stable one summer 
afternoon a thoroughbred Jersey cow, sleek, 
coffee-colored and meek, the proudest live-stock 
holder in Seneca County ; and the Sunday fol- 


340 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


lowing Mrs. Gray rustled and crackled into 
church, the cynosure of all envious feminine 
eyes, in a shimmering, shining black silk dress. 

Other luxuries found their way into the Gray 
farmhouse. A bottle of liniment for Mrs. Gray’s 
rheumatism, and of syrup for the farmer’s cough ; 
warm flannels and beautiful white table-cloths ; 
a basket of hot-house fruits and a case of oranges, 
which the old people said they had never tasted. 

Also, the conductor who had saved Katharine 
from the burning car, was much keener than 
before at noting his train’s progress, timing it 
frequently and ostentatiously by pulling out of 
his pocket, with a great air of indifference, a 
magnificent gold watch, with his initials and a 
certain date engraved thereon. 

As to Mr. Griggs, his downfall was complete. 
He was obliged to go into bankruptcy, and the 
wretchedly involved state of his affairs, and the 
worthlessness of his credit, came to light. Poor 
Jim was old enough to realize fully the extent 
of his father’s dishonesties, and suffered the 
keenest mortification and remorse. As his father 
had said, the blow fell heaviest upon him. 

But he was honest, straightforward and clever, 
and was bound to make his way in the world, 


ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 341 

when he should have outlived his father’s dis- 
grace. 

When the lawyer’s affairs had been settled to 
the best’ of the court’s abilities, Mr. Griggs 
gathered together such few worldly possessions 
as he had a right to claim, and went West with 
his son. 

Before their departure, Jim went to say good- 
by to Katharine and her mother. They were 
still at Mackinac, and Mr. Brown, who liked the 
boy, had invited him therefor a visit. But Jim 
was too proud to accept hospitality at the hands 
of those whom his father had so grievously 
wronged. He took an early train up from 
Chicago, returning the same night. His father 
refused to accompany him. 

Just at first Mrs. Allen had been a good deal 
cut up at the revelation of the lawyer’s treachery. 
As has been hinted in these pages, Mr. Griggs 
had acquired a certain hold over her will, and 
her fancy as well. Indeed, the possibility had 
existed in her mind that, if she were sufficiently 
urged, and there had seemed very good reason 
to expect the persuasion, she might consent, 
after a proper interval of mourning, to change 
her name to that of Mrs. Josiah H. Griggs. 


342 


HER FATHER’S LEGACY 


But it is hardly probable that her heart was 
really touched, for she did not pine over her 
disappointment. 

The meeting between Katharine and Jim 
threatened to be a little awkward. Neither of 
them knew just what to say. Jim hesitated 
to congratulate Katharine upon her good for- 
tune, it having been so nearly wrecked by his 
own father. And Katharine felt a natural 
delicacy in broaching the subject. 

They discussed generalities in rather formal 
tones, and the visit was a very different one 
from those Jim had been accustomed to pay 
her in the old days, when a spirit of affectionate 
good-comradeship existed between fhem. 

But Jim was resolved not to go without 
making some sort of apology. Just what the 
apology was to be for was vague in his mind, 
yet he felt some sort of expression of regret to 
be necessary. 

“ I say, Kate, I’m — I’m awfully sorry about 
it, you know,” he exclaimed abruptly. “ It isn’t 
as if some harm had really been done that I 
could make up to you again. I can only be 
awfully sorry.” 

“ Please don’t say anything* more about it, 


ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 343 

Jim,” pleaded Katharine. “It’s all over and 
ended now. Don’t think of it again, and let 
bygones be bygones.” 

“You are very generous, Kate,” he replied 
slowly, “ but there are some things a fellow can’t 
forget, you know. He stopped speaking. He 
could not go on without criticising his father, 
and his loyalty would not allow him to do 
that. 

Katharine understood this and respected him 
for it. 

“ It’s all right, Jim ” she was beginning, 

when Mr. Brown entered the room, relieving 
them of a very awkward situation. 

“ How do you do, Jim,” said the banker cor- 
dially, coming forward with outstretched hand. 
“ You’re sure you can’t be persuaded to change 
your mind and stay with us awhile ? ” 

Jim shook his head. 

“You are very kind, sir,” he replied, rising. 
“ But I’m afraid I can’t.” 

“ Well, well, sit down a minute. There’s 
something I want to say. Just a word. There 
is a very excellent position in my nephew’s 
bank. He needs a young fellow of about your 
age and brains, and the salary is good with 


344 her FATHER’S LEGACY 

prospects of promotion. The duties are easily 
learned and — well, in fact he wants you for the 
place.” 

Jim flushed and paled by turns. His bright, 
clear eyes dimmed with emotion and his throat 
swelled. He w^as completely overcome by this 
proof of trust and confidence in him. 

“ Oh, sir,” he said brokenly, “ you are very 
kind. I appreciate your offer and all it means. 
But I can’t take it. I — I must go with my 
father.” 

He turned away his face. It was very hard 
to refuse this helping hand and relinquish these 
kind friends. But Mr. Brown gave a quick, 
pleased nod. 

“ My boy, I’m proud of you,” he exclaimed 
heartily. “Shake hands. You are a true- 
hearted, loyal boy. Good-by. God speed you.” 

Jim took his hand and shook it in a long 
grateful silence. Then he turned to Katha- 
rine. 

“ Good-by, Kate,” he said in a low voice. 
“ I wish you all the luck and happiness in the 
world. And some day, perhaps I can dare come 
back and ask you to forgive my father.” 

“I can do that now, Jim,” replied Katharine 


ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 345 

earnestly. But you must surely come back to 
us some day.” 

“ You must indeed, my boy. And you will 
find your old friends faithful,” added Mr. Brown 
as the boy turned and left the room. 




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34 










^Books 

FOR •BOYS AND GIRLS 


A SERIES of books for young 
people that contains the latest 
and best works of the most popular 
writers for boys and girls. The 
stories are not only told in an inter- 
esting and charming manner, but 
most of them contain something in 
the way of information or instruction, 
and all are of a good moral tone. For this reason they 
prove doubly good reading ; for, while the child is 
pleasantly employing his time, he is also improving his 
mind and developing his character. Nowhere can 
better books be found to put into the hands of young 
people. They are profusely and handsomely illustrated 
by the best artists and are well printed on good paper 
with exceedingly handsome and durable bindings. 

Sold by the leading booksellers everywhere, or sent 
prepaid on receipt of price. 

Cloth, esLch, $t*25 

T'he Tenn Publishing Company 

92S €4RCH street PHILADELPHIA 



1 


STORIES FOR GIRLS 


Earning Her IVajf 

cMrs* Clarke Johnson Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

A charming story of an ambitious girl who overcomes in a 
most original manner, many obstacles that stand in the way 
of securing a college course. While many of her experien^'es 
are of a practical nature and show a brave, self-reliant spirit, 
some of her escapades and adventures are most exciting, yet 
surrounding the whole there is an atmosphere of refinement 
and inspiration that is most helpful and pleasing. 

Her College Days 

^y &\Irs* Clarke Johnson Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

This is a most interesting and healthful tale of a girl’s life in a 
New Englartd college. The trustful and unbounded love of 
the heroine for her mother and the mutual and self-sacrificing 
devotion of the mother to the daughter are so beautifully in- 
terwoven with the varied occurrences and exciting incidents of 
college life as to leave a most wholesome impression upon 
the mind and heart of the reader. 

Dwo Wyoming Girls 

Dy 3Irs* Carrie L* cMarshall Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

Two girls, thrown upon their own resources, are obliged to 
“ prove up ” their homestead claim. This would be no very 
serious matter were it not for the persecution of an unscru- 
pulous neighbor, who wishes to appropriate the property to 
his own use. The girls endure many privations, have a num- 
ber of thrilling adventures, but finally secure their claim and 
are generally well rewarded for their courage and persever- 
ance. 


*The Girl ^^nchers 

cMrs* Carrie cMarshali Htusirated hy Ida Waugh 

A story of life on a sheep ranch in Montana. The dangers 
and difficulties incident to such a life are vividly pictured, and 
the interest in the story is enhanced by the fact that the ranch 
is managed almost entirely by two young girls. By their 
energy and pluck, coupled with courage, kindness, and un- 
selfishness they succeed in disarming the animosity of the 
neighboring cattle ranchers, and their enterprise eventually 
results successfully. 

cMaid at King (Alfred s Court 

^y Lucy Foster Madison Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

This is a strong and well told tale of the 9th century. It is a 
faithful portrayal of the times, and is replete with historical 
information. The trying experiences through which the little 
heroine passes, until she finally becomes one of the great 
Alfred’s family, are most entertainingly set forth. Nothing 
short of a careful study of the history of the period will give 
so clear a knowledge of this little known age as the reading 
of this book. 

<A cMaid of the First Century 

^y Lucy Foster Madison Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

A little maid of Palestine goes in search of her father, who 
for political reasons, has been taken as a slave to Rome. She 
is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean, but is rescued by a 
passing vessel bound for Britain. Eventually an opportunity is 
afforded her for going to Rome, where, after many trying and 
exciting experiences, she and her father are united and his 
liberty is restored to him. 


c/L Yankee Girl in Old California 

E<velyn Raymond Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

A young girl, reared among most delightful surroundings in 
Vermont, suddenly discovers that, owing to a clause in her 
father’s will, she must make her future home with relatives 
in the lower portion of old California. No more interesting 
experience could come in the life of any bright, observing 
girl than that of an existence in this semi-tropical region, with 
its wealth of Spanish tradition and romance, its glorious cli- 
mate, its grand scenery, and its abundance of flowers and 
foliage, 


cMy Lady barefoot 

^y cMrs* Evelyn Raymond Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

A beautifully told story of the trials of a little backwoods girl 
who lives in a secluded place with an eccentric uncle, until his 
death. The privations she undergoes during his life-time, her 
search for other relatives, her rather uncongenial abode with 
them, her return to her early home to acquire her uncle’s 
estate, and thus to enjoy a useful and happy life, form a most 
interesting narrative of a girl whose ruggedness and simplicity 
of character must appeal to the admiration of all readers. 

TheFerry^aid of the Chattahoochee 

Ey cAnnie Barnes Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

An heroic little Georgia girl, in her father’s extremity, takes 
charge of his ferry, and through many vicissitudes and several 
impending calamities, succeeds in carrying out her purpose of 
supporting her invalid parent and his family. The heroine’s 
cheerfulness and hearty good humor, combined with an un- 
flinching zeal in her determination to accomplish her work, 
make a character which cannot fail to appeal to young people. 


Dorothy Day 

Julie Lippmann Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

This is a most interesting story of a bright and spirited young 
l^irl whose widowed mother re-marries. The impulsive girl 
chafes under the new relationship, being unwilling to shar» 
with another the bounteous love of her mother which she had 
learned to claim wholly for her own. By the exercise of great 
tact and kindness, the obdurate Dorothy is at last won over, 
and becomes a most estimable girl. 

^iss Wildfire 

^y Julie cM* Lippmann Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

The story of a governess’ attempt to win the love and confi- 
dence of her ward, who, owing to a lack of early restraint, is 
inclined to be somewhat of a hoyden. The development of 
the girl’s character and her eventual victory over her turbu- 
lent disposition combine to form a story of unusual merit and 
one which will hold its reader’s eager attention throughout. 

“A story of girls for girls that teaches a moral without 
labeling or tagging it at the end.” — Western Christian 
Advocate^ Cincinnati, O. 

Her Father s Legacy 

^y Helen Sherman Griffith Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

Suddenly bereft of father and fortune, a young girl finds her- 
self face to face with the world. Except for a deed to some 
waste land, there is practically no estate whatever. To make 
matters worse, the executor of the estate endeavors to appro- 
priate the deed to the land. The heroine engages in a long 
and heroic struggle for its possession. She succeeds in 
regaining it, and the land itself proves to be most valuable 
because of its location in a rich oil-producing district. 


c/ln Odd Little Lass 

*By Jessie E, Wright Elustraied by Ida Waugh 

This is a story of the regeneration of a little street waif. She 
begins life in a lowly court of a large city. Her adventures 
are numerous, and often quite exciting. After a time she 
is transplanted to the country, where alter many thrilling 
experiences she eventually grows into a useful and lovable 
young woman. The story is pleasantly told, and abounds 
in interesting incident. 

“ The story is an intensely interesting one, and abounds in 
pleasing and unique situations .” — Religious Telescope, Dayton, 
Ohio. 


cAn EveryDa^ Heroine 

^y cMary cA, Denison Illustrated by Ida Waugh 

The heroine is not an impossible character but only a pure, 
winsome, earnest girl, who at fourteen years of age is sud- 
denly bereft of fortune and father and becomes the chief sup- 
port of a semi-invalid mother. While there are many touching 
scenes, the story as a whole is bright and cheerful and moves 
forward with a naturalness and ease that carries its read- 
ers along and makes them reluctant to put down the book 
until the end is reached 


JUL 25 1901 


























